THE heroes of Bukit Kepong, whose graves were
previously left in shambles
despite giving their lives to
defend the nation against
the Communist insurgents,
have finally been conferred
the respect they deserve.
Thanks to The Malay Mail,
which front-paged the matter two weeks ago, the restoration on the cemetery
in Johor, where most of the
25 fallen warriors were laid
to rest, is now almost complete.

>> Reports on pg2

AFTER

2

news

PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu claimed trial to a charge under Section 500 of the Penal Code
for criminal defamation against policemen and their families in the Bukit Kepong tragedy — Bernama

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

PETALING JAYA:

How 'The Malay Mail' broke the story
THE issue surrounding the Bukit
Kepong warrior cemetery was first
highlighted by The Malay Mail on
Sept 7 after Haizad Ibrahim, the
grandson of the Bukit Kepong police
station officer-in-charge, Sgt Jamil
Mat Shah, sent us an email relating
to the neglect of the graveyard.
His late grandfather was among
the fallen police officers who battled
communist terrorists of the Malayan
Communist Party on Feb 23, 1950.
In Haizad's email to us, he lamented: "Is this how they respect the
heroes of Bukit Kepong?"
Wishing to see for ourselves, The
Paper That Cares visited the burial
grounds of the brave policemen in
Muar, Johor.
We observed the place resembled
more of a 'battleground' than a pris-

News Alert
CELCOM subscribers! Be the first to get
The Malay Mail's news updates via SMS!
You will get a minimum of five SMSes
daily by following these simple steps:
Weekly subscription: Type
ON<space>MMAILW and send to 23999
Monthly subscription: Type
ON<space>MMAIL and send to 23999
● Weekly: RM1.50, Monthly: RM5.00

Weather Update
PLANNING a day out? Don't get caught out.
Keeping up-to-date with the latest weather
conditions is vital.
Subscribe to receive the daily weather forecast
for Klang Valley areas direct to your mobile
phone via SMS!
All you need to do is just type:
ON<space>MM<space>WEATHER and send
to 33333
Sample: ON MM WEATHER
● RM0.50/SMS. Normal telco charges apply.

tine resting place, with part of its
wall, bearing the names of some of
the 25 dead in the infamous incident
during the Emergency, damaged
and strewn with iron railings and
rubble.
Parts of the wall with its blue
perimeter fencing, which separated
the heroes' graves from the rest in
the cemetery, were strewn on the
surface.
According to Haizad, 35, a senior
bank officer, the wall collapsed for
at least a year.
Family members who wanted to
clean up the mess were denied doing
so, as it was government property,
he said.

On Sept 9, The
Mail Mail frontpaged InspectorGeneral of Police
Tan Sr i Ismai l
Omar's statement
that the Bukit
Kepong cemetery would be
transformed into
a war memorial and tourist
attraction, 61
years after the
incident.
He said a special committee would
oversee the preservation of police
memorials and artifacts, especially
those gave their lives in defence of
the country.
The plan received a mixed reac-

GETS THE ACTION

FLASHBACK: Our breaking
story on Sept 7

tion from families of the fallen
servicemen and ex-police officers
who questioned the government's
inaction in preserving the sanctity
of such an historical place.

Graves restored

Women
escape burning
house
A YOUNG woman and her ailing
mother narrowly escaped
being trapped in a ﬁre which
destroyed their house, a car and
motorcycle in Lorong Masjid
Baung, Pengkalan Chepa, Kota
Baru, Kelantan, yesterday.
Masitah Mohamad, 19, and
Zaharah Abu Bakar, 63, were
at home when the ﬁre broke
out about 8am. Her 70-year-old
carpenter father, Mohamad
Ibrahim, was at work then.
She shouted and led her
asthmatic mother out of the
burning house when she saw
ﬂames coming from one of the
bedrooms. Pengkalan Chepa
Fire and Rescue Department
operations ofﬁcer Saipu Bhari
Mohd Noor said 21 ﬁremen
arrived in ﬁve engines and took
30 minutes to control the blaze.

By AIZAT SHARIF
aizat@mmail.com.my

THE MAIL

Heroes of Bukit Kepong get a ﬁtting resting place at last

By MARHALIM ABAS
mabas@mmail.com.my

TWO weeks after The Malay
Mail highlighted the deplorable
conditions of the Bukit Kepong
cemetery in Johor, the heroes
who gave their lives defending
the country got the respect they
deserved.
Checks showed remedial
work on the site where the
graves of the 25 brave combatants lay is near completion.
More work, however, is
being planned to beautify
the site, according to Muar
district police chief Assistant
Commissioner Mohd Nasir
Ramli.
Speaking to The Malay Mail,
he said the wall surrounding
the graves of the policemen and
their family members killed in
the 1950 attack, was rebuild
and repainted. Supporting
works to refurbish the cemetery is to start soon, he said,
together with re-turfing of the
surface of the graves.
The initial repair work cost
some RM20,000.
Haizad Ibrahim, a surviving family member of one of
the cops who perished in the
ambush, said they were grateful
for the quick repair.
Haizad, who broke the news
to The Paper That Cares on the
sorry condition of the graves,
said they were generally satisfied with the work done at the
cemetery.

COMPLETE: The new wall around the heroes' graves at the Bukit Kepong cemetery

The 35-year-old senior bank
officer is the grandson of Sgt
Jamil Mohd Shah, who was
officer-in-charge of the Bukit
Kepong police station during
the attack. Jamil and fellow
policemen died defending the
station during the height of the
Communist insurgency.
Although satisfied his complaints were promptly attended

to, Haizad urged the authorities
to conduct remedial work on
the cemetery located on a hill.
"The cemetery lawns are
without grass and even tree
stumps have been dug up. I
hope water is channelled away
from the cemetery to prevent
a landslide during heavy rain,"
he said.
In a related welcome move,

Haizad, his parents and other
surviving kin of policemen
who perished in the Feb 23
ambush, have been invited to
a Hari Raya open house at
the Putra World Trade Centre
today.
They are the guest-of-honour
of Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Najib Razak at the festive do,
organised by Umno's Wanita,

Pemuda and Puteri divisions.
This be probably the first
time relatives of the deceased
policemen would be gathering
in one place, since the tragedy
61 years ago.
Before the site was restored,
the heroes' graves were separated from the rest in the
cemetery by a perimeter fence
painted in blue.
But the fence collapsed for at
least a year leaving the site in
sheer neglect.
The Malay Mail subsequently
discovered the condition of
the Bukit Kepong cemetery
lay in stark contrast to that
of the Commonwealth War
Graves Military Annex at the
Cheras Christian Cemetery,
with its manicured lawns,
maintained by the British High
Commission.
The revelation created an
uproar in both private and
public sectors, with Badan
Warisan executive director
Elizabeth Cardosa and historian Prof Emeritus Tan Sri
Dr Khoo Kay Kim leading the
popular outcry. They regretted the lack of respect to our
heroes and historical sites.
In re sp ons e Insp e c tor
General of Police Tan Sri Ismail
Omar took the initiative in
saying the police force would
transform the Bukit Kepong
cemetery into a historical landmark in memory of those who
laid down their lives for the
country.

POLICE have extended the
remand order on a 19-yearold university student in Perak
detained last week on suspicion of murdering a teenager
whose charred remains were
found in Ampang on Sept 5.
Ampang Jaya police chief
ACP Amiruddin Jamaluddin
said the suspect, a secondyear Bachelor of Quantity
Sur veying student at
Universiti Teknologi Mara in
Bandar Baru Seri Iskandar,
w i l l now b e re mand e d

By G. Prakash
prakash@mmail.com.my

until Tuesday.
“We are completing our
investigations and hope to
submit the papers to the
Deputy Public Prosecutor's
office by next week.”
The suspect, arrested by
Ampang police outside the
UiTM Seri Iskandar compound on Sept 13, is believed
to be the boyfriend of Nurul
Awati Mohamad Shakri, 19, a

college student in Selayang.
Police seized the suspect’s
mobile phone, a Perodua
Kancil belonging to his family
and other evidence.
Strands of hair found in
the car have been sent to
the forensics department
to determine whether they
match the victim's DNA.
On Sept 5, the burnt remains
of the victim were found
by residents of Kampung
Lembah Jaya Utara, Ampang,
in bushes by the roadside

just metres away from their
houses.
The remains were those of
a half-naked girl, with close
to 80 per cent burns.
They were identified four
days later by the victim's
father who recognised her
gold bracelet, gold earrings
and from what was left of the
baju kurung she wore.
Police are probing jealousy
as a possible motive.
They have identified two
petrol stations where the sus-

pect could have brought fuel
to torch his girlfriend.
Police have retrieved closedcircuit television images from
the stations in Ampang.
Although the suspect studied in Perak, he is from
Ampang. His family resides
in Taman Ukay Perdana,
Hulu Klang.
Nurul Awati was studying
at Maahad Tahfiz At-Tijarah
(a Quran memorisation
college) in Selayang and resided in Danau Kota, Setapak.

SPEEDY: An officer attending
to a traumatised complainant in
the triage room

KUALA LUMPUR

GOMBAK

Nine hours to put out warehouse fire
IT took 70 firemen close to
nine hours to put out a blaze
at a furniture and groceries
warehouse here yesterday.
The fire, which began at
12.40am, was first seen by
a warehouse worker staying
inside the premises.
It started at one end of the
half-wooden and half-concrete building and quickly
engulfed it.
The warehouse was formerly a rubber factory owned
by Lian Hup Corporation
Sdn Bhd.
Sentul Fire Station chief
Zahari Muhamad said the
blaze was believed to have
been caused by an electrical
short-circuit.
“We took a distress call
five minutes after the fire
started," he said.
"Eight fire engines from
Sentul, Gombak Selatan,
Jalan Chow Kit, Jalan Hang
Tuah, Wangsa Maju, Seri
Har t amas , S e t ap a k and

By AIZAT SHARIF
aizat@mmail.com.my

up in flames: The blaze
engulfing the warehouse
and threatening to spread
to neighbouring houses
— Pic: CHINA PRESS

Taman Desa were sent to
the scene,."
All items in the warehouse,
including furniture and groceries like onion, flour and
dried chilli, were destroyed
in the fire.
“We faced difficulties putting out the blaze as it spread
quickly.
"We feared it might spread
to the nearby houses," said
Zahari.
He said the fire was brought
under control at 9am.
Total losses were estimated
at RM6 million. No one was
injured.
Rohani Abdul Malik, 50,
who lives nearby, said the
blaze quickly spread through
the building.
"We were advised by the
firemen to evacuate our
houses as they feared the fire
might go out of control."

WITHIN hours of the Royal
Malaysian Police (PDRM)
going on Twitter yesterday,
they received about 2,000
hits.
I n s p e c t o r- G e n e r a l o f
Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar
launched TwittePDRMsia@
twitter.com in conjunction
with first anniversary of
the police's Facebook page
which has garnered 85,000
fans to date.
“Twitter is as popular as
Facebook, with over 200
million Twitter users the
world over.

"It is many a Malaysian’s
favourite social networking
site, so we hope to get closer
to the public via Twitter, too,"
he said.
Ismail said the objective
was to make the police force
a people-friendly organisation.
“Just like Facebook, our
Twitter page will channel
information such as the latest news on police success
in solving crime, the activities and programmes we
have with the people, or
even send statements on

current issues.”
He said the Twitter account
will update traffic conditions
nationwide, especially during
rush hours.
Police officers and PDRM’s
Facebook fans also celebrated
the first-year anniversary,
with over 70 fans from all
over Malaysia attending at
the Royal Malaysian Police
College (RMPC) in Cheras.
Ismail said communications between police and
the public has improved
since the Facebook page was
launched.

MORE victims in distress
will find it easier to lodge
police reports as the Royal
Malaysian Police has extended
a fast-tracking triage service
to 35 more stations in crime
hotspots in the Klang Valley,
Penang and Johor Baru.
Inspector-General of Police
Tan Sri Ismail Omar told
a Press conference at the
Jalan Travers police station
in Brickfields yesterday, the
classifications of triage service
depended on type of cases
reported, the type of help
needed by the complainant
and the severity and importance of fast-track cases.
The fast-track cases comprise senior citizens, children,
pregnant women, sexual and
kidnap cases, trauma, the seriously injured and persons with
disabilities.
"This is PDRM's effort to
provide a conducive environment for those in distress to
help them calm down and
serve them more efficiently,"
said Ismail.
"Sitting in a room and talking about your problem is
more comfortable than crying
and feeling uncomfortable at a
police station counter."
A victim in distress will
be first attended to at the
information counter for initial
screening and following the
severity and type of case identified, the officer will decide
if the complainant would be
placed at a triage room or
assisted at a normal counter.

4

news

Probe into
illegal kidney
trade
MALAYSIA is among several
countries currently in the
radar of the Bangladeshi
police who are on the trail
of an international syndicate
linked to illegal kidney trade
across several Southeast
Asian countries. Investigators
have identified a reputed
international hospital with
branches in key regions and
capitals, including a hospital in
Selangor. Initial investigations
revealed donors from remote
villages in Bangladesh were
flown to the regions to sell their
kidneys. Eight people have been
arrested in connection with
luring the poor illiterate victims
overseas for the purpose.
Joypurhat Superintendent of
Police, Mozammel Haque told
Bernama an agency in Dhaka
was involved in the illegal kidney
transplant targeting the poor,
illiterate and people in debt.

Crimes involving
school students
worrying
VIOLENT and property crimes
involving students in Malaysia
are a cause for concern despite
a drop in such cases. Malaysia
Crime Prevention Foundation
(MCPF) vice-chairman Tan
Sri Lee Lam Thye said 741
cases were registered in the
first half of this year. He said
from January to June last year,
761 cases involving violent
and property crimes were
recorded, but they dropped by
2.6 per cent during the same
period this year. Lee urged all
quarters, especially parents,
to play their role in tackling
the problem. "We hope a
joint effort with the police will
prevent teens from getting
involved in vice activities, such
as drugs, juvenile crimes and
more."

PIA offers free
transport for
relief goods
THE Pakistan International
Airlines (PIA) is offering free
transportation for relief goods
destined for the country's flood
victims, said Pakistan's High
Commissioner, Masood Khalid.
He said the country was in need
of blankets, mosquito nets and
repellents, jerrycans, water
coolers, plastic sheets, buckets,
hygiene and sanitation tablets,
water purification tablets
(aqua-tabs), water purification
units and mineral water, among
others. Masood also called
on the Pakistani community,
and non-governmental and
civil society organisations in
Malaysia to contribute in cash
or kind to the relief efforts.
According to latest reports, the
floods in Sindh had damaged
7.9 million acres (3.2 million
hectares) of land, destroying
most of the crops, while the
estimated number of affected
people stood at eight million, as
of yesterday.

Road safety education will be part of secondary school curriculum
from next year â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

PETALING JAYA

Poor school safety

Slammed for lack of precautionary measures despite accidents
THE National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) chairman Tan Sri
Lee Lam Thye has slammed
schools for lacking initiative in
taking safety precautions, in the
wake of 11-year-old Muhammad
Fakhrul Amin Abdul Rahman
being killed by a falling goalpost
at Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan
Kampung Jawa in Klang last
Saturday.
"Schools must conduct audits
on the condition of their facilities,
and if teachers are not trained to
do it, they should approach the
Public Works Department for
inspection assistance," he said,
when contacted by The Malay
Mail.
Lee said every school should
have a safety and health committee.
"Section 30 (1)(a) of the

By T.K. Letchumy Tamboo
t.k.letchumy@mmail.com.my

Occupational Safety and Health
Act 1994 states every employer
shall establish a safety and health
committee at a place of work
if there are 40 or more persons
employed there. A school is also
a place of work as it has school
staff working there," he said.
"Having such a committee is
definitely compulsory as what
happened to Fakhrul Amin could
also happen to a school staff."
Lee said NIOSH had always
been concerned about the safety
of schools and its facilities.
"We have been helping schools
by making them get an indepth understanding of the
Occupational Safety and Health
Act. We came up with safety
guidelines and have circulated it

to schools for the past couple of
years because we want to create
awareness about occupational
safety issues," he said.
"Sadly, despite all the efforts,
such accidents keep happening."
Lee said Fakhrul Amin's
untimely death could happen
anywhere in a school, not just in
the football field.
"The risks are always there in
schools. A ceiling fan in a classroom could collapse anytime.
The school building also must be
looked at from the occupational
safety viewpoint. As such, issues
concerning safety in schools need
to be beefed up. Teachers must be
prepared to take responsibility
and the Education Ministry
has to circulate safety guide-

KUALA LUMPUR

World Car-Free Day:
Motorists prefer to drive

By FAIZAL NOR IZHAM
faizal.nor@mmail.com.my

TODAY is World Car-Free Day
but despite the offer of free
Light Rail Transit (LRT) and
Monorail tickets, most motorists here prefer to drive, The
Malay Mail found in a random
survey.
Nonetheless, to encourage
greater public transport use to
help reduce carbon emissions
by vehicles, Syarikat Prasarana
Negara Berhad (Prasarana) will
offer complimentary one-way
LRT and Monorail coupons on
weekends and public holidays
for a year, from today until Sept
22 next year.
In tandem with the campaign,
Prasarana has added 150 buses
to reduce commuters' waiting
time from 20 to 15 minutes, as
well as expanding services to
980 housing estates to reduce
walking time to LRT stations.
Their campaign also encourages
bicycle use, as bicycle-parking
facilities are provided at 17 LRT
stations.
Roziah Rosli, 24, an administration staff said: "I prefer to
drive as it is faster and more
convenient. It takes me only
15 minutes to drive to work
in Ampang from my home in
Gombak. Also, I don't like the
idea of having to walk to the
LRT station from home."

Syed Idrus: Visiting Penangite
will take up LRT offer

Computer salesman Tan Jia
Long, 20, said it takes him
15 minutes to get to work in
Petaling Jaya from his home in
Kelana Jaya.
"I leave for work at 10.30am
and return home by 9.30pm.
My working hours are long,
so driving to and fro is more
practical," he said.
"I feel the LRT is more suited
for non-work related purposes
such as shopping on off-days
when one can do things at a
leisurely pace."
Parash Suaminathan, 25, an
auditor, said what Prasarana
is doing is commendable but
believes their one-way offer will
not have many takers.
"Due to the nature of my profession, I have to go to different
places in the Klang Valley and

ROZIAH: Faster and more
convenient to drive

driving takes less time," said
Parash who resides in Jalan
Klang Lama.
Medical clinic dispenser Wong
Lee Hoi, 50, from Ampang, said
Prasarana's offer will attract
those going on shopping excursions.
"In my case, I walk to and
from my workplace which is
nearby, but Prasarana increasing
parking bays at LRT stations will
encourage motorists to take up
their free tickets offer," he said.
Pe n a n g i t e S y e d I d r u s
Al-Habshi, 57, is currently
visiting relatives in KL and
staying at his brother-in-law's
place here.
"As a visitor, I will definitely
take up Prasarana's one-way
ticket offer while still in KL,"
he said.

lines to schools."
Yesterday, The Malay Mail
reported Fakhrul Amin's father,
Abdul Rahman Sarbaini, 42, had
said he planned to sue the school
and Education Ministry over the
incident.
He had also said the incident
could have been avoided if only
precautionary measures had
been taken.
On Sept 17, Muhammad
Fakhrul Amin was playing
football with friends at the
school field when the goalpost fell on him.
Abdul Rahman Sarbaini
rushed his son to Hospital
Tengku Ampuan Rahimah
in Klang. Fakhrul Amin,
who sustained a cracked
skull and severe bleeding, was subsequently
pronounced dead.

Fakhrul Amin: Killed by
falling goalpost

KUALA LUMPUR

Energy bill rebate needs
in-depth thinking

CONSUMER groups have questioned the relevance of the new
RM200 government rebate for
monthly energy bills upon purchasing energy-efficient refrigerators and urge the government to
get priorities right.
On Tuesday, the Energy, Green
Technology and Water Ministry
announced those with bills of
between RM3 and RM285 per
month can claim the rebate for
refrigerators approved as energyefficient, which was an expansion
of the previous rate from RM43.60
to RM117 per month.
A wider variety of refrigerator
brands will also be made available
to consumers under the rebate
programme, as the ministry plans
to expand the number from the
current 12 brands.
H o w e v e r, C o n s u m e r s
Association of Subang and Shah
Alam president Jacob George
said this issue fails to address
consumer concerns about rising
costs of living, which is their current main priority.
"I feel the government has lost
touch with the real needs of the
public," he told The Paper That
Cares.
He said even with credit options
available, many would think twice
as they have to deal with additional debt.
"This rebate will only be relevant to those who can afford
it, not the below-average wage
earner. The more ideal solution
would be to address monopoly

holders such as Tenaga Nasional
Berhad and request them to help
bring down the monthly power
rates," he said.
He added people are more
concerned about issues such as
holding down their jobs, as well as
the upcoming Goods and Services
Tax (GST).
"We urge the government to
interact more with the rakyat to
determine what their real needs
are."
Federation of Malaysian
Consumers Associations (Fomca)
secretary-general Muhammad
Sha'ani Abdullah said any move
by the government should not
only benefit the people but also
the entire nation in general.
"Why only refrigerators?" "What
about other common household
appliances such as electric light
bulbs? This would surely appeal
more to the average Malaysian.
That is not to say Fomca does
not support this move, but the
government should focus more
on common concerns rather than
appeal to a specific segment.
"We also need to consider
other green technology options.
Why not focus on various means
to conserve energy? That way,
there would not be a need for
nuclear reactors in the future.
Corporations and not just households should also be taken into
consideration if the government
is really serious about saving
energy. Multiple areas ought to
be considered."

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

I hope Malaysians are mature enough to understand when no such (ISA) law is around, they must exercise
self-control and not undermine the country's security — Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Fight for nation's soul

SINCE last Thursday, emotions have been varied, bouncing between euphoria, disbelief and triumph.
Now the dust has settled
following the Prime Minister's
announcement on Sept 15
of the repeal of the Internal
Security Act (ISA) 1960 and
the Emergency Ordinance,
cynicism seems to have taken
over.
Many of us who never
thought we would live to
see the day an instrument so
loathed and feared such as
the ISA would be taking its
final bows, have much to take
stock of.
Is this for real? What about
the two replacement antiterror laws? Could they be
a repackaged version of the
ISA? The Official Secrets Act
(OSA) 1972 and the Sedition
Act are still very much part of
the legal fabric that regulates
dissent.
Although Datuk Seri Najib
Razak stressed that no one
would be prosecuted for their
political beliefs, can we really
believe it will trickle down to
implementation?
While there is no evidence
to doubt the Prime Minister's
sincerity, it is not just up to
him to keep his word. Those
in law enforcement and the

AMPANG

By AIZAT SHARIF
aizat@mmail.com.my

TWO construction workers
in a skylift truck high above
the ground, seen diligently
painting the beams beneath a
flyover of the Kuala Lumpur
Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2)
near the Tesco hypermarket
in Ampang yesterday.
It was surely hard work as
there were 10 beams to be
painted.
They are positioned beneath
the 35km expressway that
connects Sri Petaling and
Bandar Sri Damansara,
The expressway has been
a major route for motorists
since 2002 and during rush
hours on working days, there
are massive traffic crawls
along certain sections.
— Pic: ARIF KARTONO

Down2Earth

With Terence Fernandez
ON THURSDAY

political warlords must also
ensure they keep the promises
made by the man at the top.
Najib is, after all, speaking on
behalf of the government, and
to an extent, his own political
party.
As the government's handling of the Bersih 2.0 rally on
July 9 in Kuala Lumpur had
demonstrated, even the Yang
di-Pertuan Agong's wishes can
be defied or to put it mildly,
misinterpreted or ignored.
The Prime Minister said
one thing about Bersih 2.0,
the politicians said something
else and finally the police had
their own ideas.
So don't blame the people if
they are sceptical.
Less than a week after
the historic announcement
which also recognised the
need for greater freedom of
speech, PAS deputy president
Mohamad “Mat” Sabu was
charged yesterday for criminal
defamation over his views on
the pre-Merdeka role of the

communists.
Hence, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Actions
speak louder than words and
if having an opinion continues
to make one vulnerable to
persecution, then no amount
of rhetoric or promises will
regain the people's trust and
confidence.
Having said that, let's give
the Prime Minister a chance
to see through his reforms.
One must realise by now
that even Najib has his own
battles whether it's with his
Cabinet colleagues, party
hard-liners, the civil service,
the Opposition and the sceptics.
The fact is he took great
political risk to defy the many
dissenting views to end the
Emergency Ordinance and
repeal the ISA.
That he has made it tougher
for the police to detain someone and is pushing for the
arbitrary powers of detention
to shift from the police to the

Courts is an indication he is
serious about reforms.
While it is expected of the
Opposition and cynics to pour
cold water over Najib's initiatives, it is also incumbent on
these parties to put politics
aside and encourage the Prime
Minister to see through his
reforms. This would serve
the rakyat better, instead of
continuously casting a suspicious eye on this monumental
decision.
The irony is, many are
already claiming credit for the
government's change of heart
where not too long ago, the
government and its supporters, were espousing the virtues
of such draconian laws to safeguard national security.
No doubt pressure from
opponents of the ISA, as well
as the people's overall resentment of being under the
shadow of repressive laws and
policies, had a tremendous
hand in forcing the shift in
policies. But while we thump
our chests, it is also virtuous
to recognise our leaders are
listening and learning from
their mistakes.
After all, it was the poor —
no, disastrous — handling of
the Bersih 2.0 rally that got
the government to review
the need for permits to hold

Uplifting paint job

gatherings. Anyone at the
receiving end of a water cannon, tear gas or baton would
welcome this change.
And that the powers of the
police have been curtailed to
some extent in this regard, is
also a victory for the Federal
Constitution which recognises the right to peaceful
assembly.
Now more than ever, the
Prime Minister needs support
to see through his reforms.
Najib has already demonstrated he is not all talk, but as we
wait for these next few months
to pass before the enactments
are tabled in Parliament for
repeal, there will be elements
out there which will try to
derail this process.
In times like this, partisanship must take a backseat as
we all rally as Malaysians to
put right something that has
held us back as a progressive
nation for over four decades.
The fight for the nation's
soul has just begun.

news

5

Trafﬁc fumes
can trigger
heart attacks
BREATHING in large amounts
of trafﬁc fumes can trigger a
heart attack up to six hours
after exposure, according
to research which reafﬁrms
the health risks associated
with pollution. The study,
in the British Medical
Journal, found high levels
of pollution can increase
the risk of suffering a heart
attack, reports the Guardian.
It identiﬁes exposure to
pollutant particles and
nitrogen dioxide expelled by
cars as the main culprits.
The authors quantify the
risk as small — up to 1.3
per cent higher risk of a
heart attack up to six hours
after exposure to those
substances.

I have body
Dysmorphic
disorder: Gellar

TERENCE FERNANDEZ,
executive editor at The
Malay Mail, is an optimist
but is well aware there are
people who would want
to throw a spanner in
the works. Feedback: terence@mmail.com.my

ACTRESS Sarah Michelle
Gellar (pic) tells the October
issue of Health that she's not
always conﬁdent in her own
skin. "I have body dysmorphic
disorder. I think most women
do," the 34-year-old revealed.
"I just have to remember that
I'm human, and I'm a mum.
Being a parent changes the
vanity at least a little bit."
Body dysmorphic disorder is
a disease in which a person
becomes obsessed with an
imagined ﬂaw in his or her
appearance.

Insecticide
in lunch
kills three
THREE children have died
and more than 50 others
were admitted to hospital
in a serious condition after
eating food accidentally
mixed with toxic insecticide
in a school in northern Peru.
The poisoning took place
yesterday, when the school
lunch of rice and canned
anchovies was placed
in a container that held
insecticide residue. Some 56
people, including teachers
and parents, sought medical
treatment in the Cajabamba
province in the northern
department of Cajamarca,
750km north of Lima. — AFP

Latest news portal aims to put journalistic ethics into blogs
THE MOLE — the latest news
portal in town — hopes to
bring journalism into blogging.
Editor of the blogportal,
Shamsul Akmar Musa Kamal,
aims to get the biggest groups
of bloggers from Malaysia
and SouthEast Asia on one
platform.
"It's all about information.
There are thousands of bloggers around and we want to
inject journalism ethics into
blogging, and vice versa. We
are primarily a website that
publishes articles by bloggers.
"We are not like other news

By ANDREW SAGAYAM
andrew@mmail.com.my

portals, but our news source
is mainly from bloggers. We
classify bloggers based on the
articles they write; political,
business and lifestyle," he told
The Malay Mail.
He said before The Mole
publishes stories from bloggers, it will contact the writers
to verify contents.
"We will check how they
got their information. If the
blogger is not contactable, we
will check with the individual
or the party that the blogger

has written about to verify
information regarding them
and the story content."
Shamsul hopes The Mole
will eventually be a place of
reference for journalists and
bloggers to obtain information
on any issue.
The Mole also offers readers a wiki-type open source
database on Malaysian personalities, companies and
other organisations, called
The MoleBase, found on the
website.
Shamsul said the portalwas launched on Sept 16 in
conjunction with Malaysia

Day celebrations. The idea
behind it was mooted by
Datuk Ahirudin Attan, better
known as Rocky of Rockybru
fame.
"Other future developments
include cleaning up blog postings, directing traffic, creating
an interactive and regional
blog community that will
enable us to set up a database
and organise programmes and
lucky draws," Shamsul said.
He said one reason for the
site is because of the presence
of blogs that are being too partisan, too involved in politics,
or which give that perception.

SHAMSUL: The Mole aims to
unite a big group of bloggers

"Most times blogs do break
the story, but with too many
half truths and quite a few
outright lies. We fear people
will lose trust in blogs as a
source of news if there is no
effort to help verify blognews,"
he said.
The Mole also aims to create
a social paper that publishes
what you need to know from
blogs rather than what the
blogs want you to know.

KAMPUNG PANDAN

All-new Nikon 1 series to hit the shelves soon
By IKRAM ISMAIL
ikram.ismail@mmail.com.my

PHOTO buffs can look forward to the release of the
Nikon 1 series — an advanced
interchangeable lens digital
camera system.
The series consists of two
models — Nikon 1 J1, and
Nikon 1 V1 — both comprising high-speed AF CMOS
image sensor, image-processing engine Expeed 3 and a
new mount lens system.
Designed for amateurs,
the J1 possesses a standard
10-30mm zoom with a 10mm
fixed focal length and a
Telephoto 30110mm zoom
lens.
It is also equipped with a
3-inch, 460k-dot TFT LCD
monitor with wide-viewing
angle and comes in pink, red,
white, black and silver.
For professionals, the black-

movie editing software and
air-gapless structure adopted
for the LCD monitor.
Another selling point for
the new series is its stylish
body and compact lens for
better portability.
Nikon 1 is the third brand

in Nikon's digital camera
arsenal, following the Nikon
D-series digital-SLR cameras
and the Coolpix brand of
compact digital cameras.
The launch by Nikon
Malaysia Sdn Bhd yesterday
was in conjunction with the
manufacturer's 95th anniversary.
Said Nikon Malaysia consumer products marketing
general manager David Ng:
"The new releases would not
cannibalise the DSLR but
expand the camera industry
and strengthen our leading
position in the Malaysian
market."
Nikon also unveiled eight
new Coolpix compact cameras yesterday — the AW
100, S6200, S6150, S4150,
S1200pj, S8200, S100 and
P7100.
The new products will be
available next month.

BUKIT BINTANG

HomeGuru wins gold at Tiger Awards
HOMEGURU SDN BHD
via its online business portal HomeGuru.com.my, a
property expert, has won the
Online Business Award (Gold)
at the inaugural South-East
Asian SME Tiger Awards on
Tuesday, as part of the two-day
South East Asian SME Forum
at Prince Hotel.
The Online Business Award
is presented to the organisation that demonstrated the
most significant online growth
last year. Factors for evaluation
include online transactions,

site visitors and referrals.
Receiving the award was
Steve Melhuish, group chief
executive officer of AllProperty
Media Pte Ltd in Singapore,
who said: “It's amazing to be
rewarded with such an award
so soon as it is the first time
one of our 'new' countries
has picked up an industry
accolade and with it happening less than a year since we
established HomeGuru Sdn
Bhd.
“Winning the gold SME
Tiger Award for Online

Business is a testament to
the hard work, commitment
and success demonstrated by
the Malaysian Gurus. In 11
months, we've cemented our
presence in the highest ranks
of a very competitive environment, built an awesome team
of Gurus, opened three offices (in Kuala Lumpur, Johor
Baru and Penang), joined
forces with FullHouse.com.
my in Penang, grown traffic to
almost 500,000 buyers viewing
4.5 million pages and most
importantly, kick-started the

GOOD
START: The
HomeGuru site
is becoming
popular with
property
buyers

inception of a well-recognised
HomeGuru brand.”
Also present at the ceremony was HomeGuru country manager Steven Tan who
said: “This acknowledgement

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

by a panel of judges from
the SouthEast Asian business arena spurs our team at
HomeGuru to make a mark
as the go-to property expert
portal in Malaysia.”

Eco
Terengganu
Conference
champions
green issues
THE inaugural Eco
Terengganu Conference 2011
will be held on Nov 23 and 24
at the Ri-Yaz Heritage Marina
Resort and Spa in Kuala
Terengganu in conjunction
with the Monsoon Cup.
Organised by EcoKnights
and T-Best Events with the
support of the Terengganu
government and 1Malaysia
PROGRES (Program Green
Solutions), the conference
aims to increase awareness
of environmental issues, and
educate the public and State
and private agencies on the
gaps, opportunities and challenges in developing a sustainable State.
Also to be highlighted
are renewable energy and
green technology options for
sustainable development in
Terengganu.
The event will feature talks
by prominent speakers from
various industries which
support green initiatives,
discussions, exhibitions and
networking sessions.
The main focus of the inaugural conference is to alert
stakeholders of the potential
of Terengganu’s environment
and the areas that can be
optimised for growth.
Datuk Toh Chin Yaw, chairman of Terengganu's industry, trade and environment
committee, said: “Terengganu
provides the perfect backdrop
for an amazing programme
that will examine the best
green practices that support
local businesses to operate
in a sustainable environment. Eco Terengganu 2011
is important to Terengganu
because it will showcase
green innovations, community programmes and research
that can benefit the people.”
The four key pillars of
the government’s Green
Technology policy — energy,
environmental, social and
economic sustainability — is
the inspiration behind Eco
Terengganu’s three conference themes — business,
environment and social. Each
theme will be presented in
half-hour sessions by notable
speakers.
The business theme will
demonstrate green business
tools, opportunities and
technology that will protect the economic future of
Terengganu without stressing
its natural resources.

THURSDay 22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

the malay mail

7

8

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

hotline@mmail.com.my

tel:03-7495 1000/1001/1002
tel:019-261 4948 (after 9pm)

your right to be heard
●
●
●
●

Complainants have to submit their personal particulars and provide a detailed account of their complaint.
Complainants have to first file their complaints with the respective parties before contacting Hotline.
Complaints referred by Hotline to the relevant parties would be published if there is no response in seven days.
After a complaint has been resolved, the complainant cannot demand non-publication of the matter.

FLOATING TRASH: Rubbish restricting the flow of water in Sungai
Klang near Taman Sri Muda — Pic: Samsul Said

SEGARAN: Made numerous
reports to Shah Alam City
Council and DID

INDISCRIMINATE dumping in Sungai Klang is
still a major headache for
the residents of in Shah
Alam.
Former Shah Alam city
councillor M.G. SEGARAN says he has made
numerous reports to the
council and the Drainage
and Irrigation Department
(DID) but there has not
been any action.

"I remember the local
council promising to get
the DID to clean up the
place in February this year
but the condition of the
river is still the same, if not
worse," he says.
"Most of the rubbish is
industrial waste dumped
by irresponsible parties.
There are also a lot of discarded water bottles and
styrofoam. If they are not

cleared, they will flow
to areas in Klang, Petaling Jaya and even KL," he
says.
SEGARAN, who lives
nearby, says the stench
from the river reaches his
neighbourhood when the
wind blows.
He hopes the rubbish will
be cleared soon before it
becomes a health hazard.
Another resident, AH-

MAD RUSTAM, says rubbish thrown by residents
in Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya is clogging up the
river.
"I suspect waste is also
being dumped into the river from a factory nearby,"
says the 27-year-old.
● SHAH ALAM mayor
Datuk Mohd Jaafar Mohd
Atan says: "We sought the

help of the Drainage and
Irrigation
Department
months ago. We urge DID
to cooperate with us and
to not take the matter
lightly as it involves people's health.''
A DID spokesman says
the department has overlooked the matter and assures Hotline that workers
will be deployed to clean
up the river.

Car towed away by taxi service operator
IT just wasn’t his day.
First, JOHN KOSHY’s car
was towed away on Aug 22.
Then, the 73-year-old had
to pay RM10 for a taxi to
go and collect his car, only
to be charged an additional
RM200 as the company
managing the taxi service
was also the one which had
towed away the car.
JOHN, of Kuala Lumpur,
says he had left his car unattended at a yellow line for

15 minutes to go to Maxis
Tower in Kuala Lumpur
City Centre (KLCC).
When he returned and
found his car missing, he
thought it had been stolen
but was told by a taxi driver
it had been towed away.
“He told me to go to the
taxi service outside KLCC
to enquire about my car,"
says JOHN.
He says a man at the taxi
service waved over a taxi

and asked him to pay the
driver RM10 to take him to
the impound lot where his
car was being held.
The lot turned out to be in
Jalan Stonor, about one kilometre away.
When JOHN got to the
impound lot, he was asked
to pay RM200 for the release of his car and was issued a receipt from Awana
Sutera Travel & Tours (M)
Sdn Bhd.

“This is not right. I didn’t
see any warning signs about
cars being towed away," says
JOHN.
He asks why he was
charged RM10 when the
impound lot is so near, and
how a private company can
tow one’s car from a public
road.
● AWANA SUTERA chief
executive officer Datuk
Sham Ismail Tom says

his company, the appointed contractor for
the KLCC taxi service, is
also responsible for coordinating the traffic and
monitoring unauthorised
parking around KLCC.
He says JOHN should
not have parked his car
there in the first place as
there is a yellow line and
it is a two-lane road.
Regarding the RM10
charge, Sham says if

JOHN had used a taxi
from the taxi stand, he
could investigate the matter.
"If they choose not to
use our service, they can
always stop a taxi by the
side of the road, but if
something goes wrong,
we can’t help them.”
When contacted, JOHN
insists it is unfair for a
company to tow a car
away without warning.

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

9

1. Subang Jaya Municipal Council
at the jogging and bicycle track at
enforcement officers will be
Kepong Metropolitan Park to prevent
TAKE NOTE
issuing on-the-spot summonses
motorcyclist from entering the track.
to illegally parked cars, especially around USJ 9, 10 2. City Hall has prohibited operators from dumping solid
waste on land in Kuala Lumpur as such dumping can
and 15.
2. Kuala Lumpur City Hall will be installing barriers
only take place outside the city.

Beegone!
BEFORE

A HUGE beehive "hanging" menacingly over the
heads of residents of Block
17 of Taman Alam Megah in
Shah Alam is gone, thanks to
Hotline.
The Shah Alam Seksyen
15 Fire Station, alerted to the
danger by Hotline on Tuesday, swung into action later
that evening and burned
down the hive.
In a report in The Malay
Mail yesterday, headlined
"Abuzz with danger", resi-

Fire and Rescue
Department removes
hive after 'Hotline' alert

AFTER

GETS THE ACTION
dents said the hive had been
growing in size over the last
four months.
M.
LOGESWARAN,
whose flat is just below the
hive, said he had to check his
rooms five times a day to ensure there are no bees.
LOGESWARAN, who had

been stung, together with his
mother and sister, said they
are forced to shut their doors
and windows to prevent from
the bees from entering.
He said he had complained
several times to the authorities but they did not take action.
A spokesman for the Fire
and Rescue Department said
the 10-member team arrived
around 9pm and completed
their work about two hours
later.

LOGESWARAN's sister,
MOGANA, said the firemen
used a fire pipe to burn the
hive from her window while
a few others were stationed
below, including one with a
fire extinguisher in case the
bees attacked.
"There were a lot of dead
bees on the floor. The rest
flew off. Thanks to Hotline
and the Fire and Rescue Department, we can go about
our business normally," she
says.

Manhole danger
near school
AISYAH RASHID, an accountant from Petaling
Jaya, noticed there is an
uncovered manhole near
a bus stop in front of SMK
Sri Petaling at the junction
of Jalan Kemajuan and Jalan
Semangat.
She saw it when she was
dropping off her son to
school on Sept 19.
AISYAH says she is not
sure how long the manhole
has been left uncovered.
"I'm sure people have seen
it but has anybody reported
it? Did they just forget or do
they just not care?"
The manhole is about half
a meter wide and one meter deep. It is covered with
sticks, rubbish and an old
banner.
"I asked my son about it
and he says that last week it

was just an open hole with
nothing inside," she says.
"Someone has since put
some sticks in it and placed
a banner on top, possibly to
warn people.
"I hope no children have
fallen inside and got hurt.
I hope the authorities will
take action and make it safer for pedestrians."
● PETALING JAYA City
Council public relations
officer Zainun Zakaria
says the council's engineers have been alerted to
the matter.
"The manhole is above
a medium-size drain and
located at the sidewalk.
Someone has stolen the
grill but we will replace it
as soon as possible," she
says.

Online comments
www.mmail.com.my
It’s safe, says City Hall (Sept 20)
● IT IS time the authorities took responsibility for
the monstrosities plaguing the KL landscape.
The horrible sight of the abandoned hotel
project opposite Renaissance Hotel has been
an unacceptable eyesore for years now. When
is something going to be done about that? This
incident opposite Ampang City is just another
example of the state of things. — Anonymous
● WHY does City Hall need to do the larviciding?
Shouldn't it be the responsibility of the site owner?
— Anonymous
● WHAT rubbish. City Hall has been saying the same
thing for the past five years. Either it is covering
up or it is the developers who have changed their
minds and are stalling. The hole should have been
covered or filled with cement after the developers
failed to do anything for a year, not leave it for five.
Now people are living in there and not only is it
a sight for sore eyes, it's also quite dangerous. —
Anonymous
No place to park (Sept 20)
● INADEQUATE parking space for cars is a
major problem faced by all drivers, not only in
Subang Jaya but all over the KL as well. Our
public transport system is not efficient and not
servicing all areas in the city, thus many people
prefer to drive to their destinations at their own
convenience. Sometimes, we have to wait for a
long time before the intended bus arrives, and
this is frustrating to the commuters as well. It is
time ample parking spaces are provided by the
local councils to eliminate this parking problem.
— shaktiman
Mix-up over complimentary pizza (Sept 19)
● THIS is about the delivery of service as promised.
Running a business is a serious matter. Giving
excuses like breaking fast or going for prayers
is acceptable only when it is clearly stated
beforehand. Everyone may have their own priorities
but business is business. Malaysia cannot
advance if people keep on giving excuses. If they
want to break fast, it needs to be done with proper
planning. As the majority of the people in this
country are Muslims, going for prayers or breaking
fast is already part of the culture here. That means
businesses or people need to arrange their time
accordingly. It should not be used as an excuse to
escape from responsibilities. For example, do you
see footballers suddenly say they want to go for
prayers? Or marathon runners stopping midway?
No, because they have already arranged their time
for these things. Plus, everyone of religion must
make compromises under various circumstances.
So, this is just a clear case of irresponsibility of
the delivery man. — abugaga
Hit by ‘cheap’ greens (Sept 19)
● WELL, the customers have the right to choose. But
how can the illegal traders sell the vegetables
at cheaper prices? The authorities must explain
that. We want cheap simply because we want to
make ends meet. Maybe the local council should
collect a minimum rent from the traders since I
am sure the amount of rent collected should by
now pay off the cost of constructing the market.
The amount of rent should, from now on, just be
used for council management and maintenence
of the municipality. As for the illegal traders, they
should be allowed to earn a living, so that they
won't resort to crime as a cheaper alternative for
the poor people. — Nawawi

GAPING: The exposed hole which is posing a threat to students of
SMK Sri Petaling — Pix: Arif Kartono

When contacted, AISYAH says she is glad the
council is taking action.
"Until it is fixed, I will tell

my son to be careful and
not run around near there.
I hope other parents do the
same."

Eating al fresco (Sept 14)
● THE council should be sued, it seems to me, as
parking places are for parking cars, not people.
Every council in the Klang Valley is guilty of causing
obstruction to footpaths and roadways. — Eina

● Opinions may be in the form of Letters to the Editor or comments posted in relation to all news. ● Letters to the Editor must carry your name, address and contact number. A pseudonym may be included.

KL: Malaysian road signs

When it's easy to get lost

DURING the recent Hari Raya
celebrations, while chatting
with a foreign visitor driving
in the country, I was shocked
to learn he found it tough following the road signages.
When I asked him whether
it was because of the language
used, he replied in the negative
and explained the signages are
probably done by some ignorant or overly confident town/
road planning officers.
The person must be overly
familiar with the city and
oblivious to the fact that signages are meant for people
who are new in the area. He
said there is also a total lack
of continuity in the placement
of road signs.

I did my own checks and
drove down the roads in
Putrajaya and several other
cities, like Malacca, Ipoh,
Penang, Johor and
almost every part of
Kuala Lumpur.
I found out that the
tourist is correct and
has certainly driven
home a point that our
town and road planning officers are either
ignorant or oblivious
to the fact that road
signs are for new drivers/commuters/ tourists.
An excellent case is,
if you are driving to
Putrajaya, you will see

that none of the precint signages are continued or repeated after any

junction. If you are new to the
place and driving towards
Presint 2, you will never
see the Presint 2 signage
at the traffic light junctions. You have to make
your own judgment call
and turn.
It is rather sad a stateof-the-art city can have
such a problem.
Another example: if
you are driving towards
Kuala Lumpur Hospital
on Jalan Tun Razak, and
if you are a first-timer,
you will never get to the
hospital because there
are no signs to show
where Kuala Lumpur
Hospital on Jalan Tun

There must be continuity
and every sign must lead to
another so that a new driver or
tourist will not be lost or have
to make a several U-turns to
reach his destination.
The lack of proper road signs
can also cause accidents and
loss of valuable man-hours.
I understand the GPS system
is useful today but without
the right sign at the right
place, even the GPS serves no
purpose.
I would like to urge the
authorities to seriously view
this in a positive light so that
our cities and towns are easy
and quicker to reach.
Ravindran Raman Kutty

KL: Smile that says it all (Sept 19)

KL: Travel Industry

Nothing much to show after 40 years

ONCE again, Malaysia is
on the radar of the world
tourism industry with the
recent announcement that
the 46th United Federation
of Travel Agents Association
(UFTAA) Congress will be
staged here in 2012.
This will be exactly 40
years after the 1972 Pacific
Area Travel Association
(Pata) Conference held in
Kuala Lumpur, which was
the watershed of our tourism
industry.
Our government, through
its national tourism
organisation, has earmarked
2013 as the next Visit
Malaysia Year. However, it
may not put a stop to other
countries proclaiming their
“Visit My Country” in the
same year.
Therefore, the Malaysian
Association of Tour & Travel
Agents (Matta) ought to be
congratulated for bringing
the annual UFTAA Congress
back to our shores so soon,
after hosting it in 2002.
The size and influence of
UFTAA is enormous. Matta
alone has 2,800 corporate
members and it is just one
of the 100 national travel
associations in UFTAA.
Larger members of
Matta are in the small and
medium enterprises (SMEs)
category. The majority of
the members are micro or
tiny. The travel industry is
driven more by passion than
professionalism.
Matta members are mainly

Razak is.
If you ever drive to Malacca
or Penang or Ipoh, you must
pray that you will not get lost.
The road signages in almost
every State in Malaysia are in
a terrible state.
The road planner must think
like a visitor and not like a
person who is overly familiar
with the streets of a particular
area.
One of the best examples
of excellent road signs is in
Singapore and Canada.
I think our town or road
planners must seriously view
my suggestion and ensure no
road or junction is missed
when the road signs are
made.

involved in airline ticketing,
hotel reservations, outbound
and inbound tours, rental of
tour buses, vans and cars,
management of events such
as meetings and conferences,
and sale of cruises and other
travel-related services.
The government introduced licensing of tourist
guides in 1975, and Tour
Operating Business and
Travel Agency Business
(TOBTAB) in 1986.
These measures ensured
some control but there has
been no significant progress in
the travel industry other than
modern-day conveniences
s u c h a s h an d p h on e s ,
Internet, computerisation
and modern highways.
Take road transport, for
example. During the 1972
Pata Conference, the lowdeck monocoque buses
used were fitted with airsuspension. They were much
more stable, solid, safer and
comfortable than the highdecker and double-decker
buses we have today.
In 1975, the bus charter
rate was RM500 per day and
it has yet to double after 35
years whereas the price of
a new Mercedes sedan or a
double-storey linked house
has risen by more than 15
times.
Some of the licensing
conditions for tour buses,
vans and cars have been a
hindrance to the industry
and have not helped to raise
safety standards or service

quality.
Although Matta has
continuously engaged with
the various authorities and
resolved some of the issues,
thorny problems remained.
This is hardly surprising
as new officials tackled
the same old problems by
starting from scratch all over
again.
What both the public and
private sectors have failed
to do is to set their own
detailed policy on various
road transport matters.
Such a policy should be
beyond the usual vision and
mission statements of an
organisation.
An open and transparent
p ol i c y i n pl a c e wou l d
reflect the wishes of the
industry as it can be vetted
by hundreds of stakeholders
and st re ng t he ne d ove r
time through continuous
reviews.
As such, Matta should
determine and state clearly
its position on various issues
with supporting data in a
strong official document.
It will then be up to the
authorities to accept, amend
or reject with explanation.
Matta should also set a
detailed policy on education
and training and use it as
the reference to engage
with tertiary institutions
to produce graduates who
are more suited to industry
requirements.
Our education system
has successfully churned

out a large numb er of
graduates but lacking in
quality. A truly educated
person displays courtesy,
confidence, communication
skills and critical thinking
but all these are lacking in
many graduates.
At the same time, as many
tourists are now travelling
in tour vans, cars and taxis,
there is an urgent need
to train these drivers and
upgrade them to driverguides.
The travel industry will
truly come of age when a
sizeable number of Matta
members strive towards
quality management system
such as the ISO 9001. As
green tourism will be among
the topics discussed in the
2012 UFTAA Congress,
initiatives that would impress
the delegates should be
introduced.
Will they be riding on
buses running on natural
gas or clean diesel? Will they
be driving electric or hybrid
cars? Will they be handed
tons of printed brochures in
plastic bags or will they be
given space to plant a small
forest?
The industry has nothing
much to show for after 40
years. For the love of our
nation, let us do something
concrete and meaningful now
which can also leave a legacy
for our future generations.
YS Chan
Kuala Lumpur

Don't worry, be happy
WE ARE usually drawn to
people who smile.
There is an attraction factor.
We want to know the smiling
person and figure out what is
so good.
Next time you are feeling
down, try putting on a smile.
There's a good chance your
mood will change for the
better.
It has been proven that
smiling can trick the body
into helping you change your
mood.
When someone is smiling,
he/she lightens up the room,
changes the moods of others, and makes things seem
happier.
A smiling person also brings
happiness with him/her. Smile
a lot and you will draw people
to you.
Stress, on the other hand,
can really show up in our faces.
Smiling helps prevent us from
looking tired, worn down and
overwhelmed.

Whenever you are stressed,
take time to put on a smile.
The stress should be reduced
and you'll be better able to deal
with it later on.
Medically, smiling helps the
immune system to work better.
When you smile, the immune
function improves, possibly
because you are more relaxed.
When you smile, there is a
measurable reduction in your
blood pressure, too.
Just give it a try.
Studies have shown that
smiling releases endorphins,
natural pain killers and serotonin. Together, these three
make us feel good. Smiling is
a natural drug.
The muscles we use to smile
lift the face, making a person
appear younger.
Don't go for a facelift, just
try smiling your way through
the day — you'll look younger
and feel better.
Bulbir Singh

KL: Clean-up pledge (Aug 10)

Remove eyesores

POSTERS indiscriminately tied
or nailed onto trees and posts
around the city are an eyesore.
The authorities should come
down hard on these perpetrators who have no decency or
consideration for the environment and landscape beauty.
Their indiscriminate activities
are unacceptable.
My suggestions:
▪ Posters — the public should
cooperate with the authorities
to remove such posters.

▪ Stickers — the biggest eyesores are stickers on lamp
posts and poles, telephone
booths, road signs and walls.
While it is difficult to remove
these stickers, the best method
is to use paint and brush over
them or use spray paint.
If action is not taken now, this
menace will spread throughout
the nation and give a bad name
to the country.
Anandh

THURSDay 22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

the malay mail

11

12

world

What do you have to lose? Why are you so afraid of the outcome of the truth? Why are you so
anxious that he has to die? — Veteran civil rights campaigner Reverend Al Sharpton on Troy Davis

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

JACKSON

Last-ditch effort
Bid to spare Troy Davis heads to US Supreme Court

A LAST-GASP bid to stay the
execution of US death row
inmate Troy Davis was rejected
yesterday at State level but his
lawyer said he was appealing to
the US Supreme Court.
"The application for a certificate of probable cause to
appeal is denied. The motion
for stay of execution is denied,"
read a unanimous ruling from
Georgia's Supreme Court,
upholding a lower court's earlier decision.
"Denied in Georgia Supreme
Court, on to US Supremes,"
Davis's lawyer Brian Kammer
wrote in an email less than 90
minutes before his client was
due to be put to death by lethal
injection at a prison in Jackson,
Georgia.
Kammer had earlier filed an
appeal with the Butts County
Superior Court, challenging the
accuracy of ballistics tests used
to link Davis to the shooting

DESPERATE TIMES: Solana Plains (right) escorts a distraught
Elijah West, cousin of Davis, out of the Towaliga County Line
Baptist Church across from the Jackson State Prison — AFPpic

death of off-duty police officer
Mark MacPhail.
But Judge Thomas Wilson
declined to halt the execution,
saying the county court had
received no new evidence "that
was not previously available".
"This court therefore denies
(the) petitioner's motion for

stay of his execution," Wilson
wrote.
Davis was convicted in the
1989 shooting in Savannah,
Georgia, but no physical evidence tied him to the crime and
several witnesses later recanted
their testimony.
The case has been plagued

by questions of racial bias since
27-year-old MacPhail was white
and Davis, who was 20 at the
time of the murder, is black.
As the execution approached, a
campaign to stop it grew. Nearly
one million people signed an
online petition, 2,000 attended
a rally in Atlanta on Friday and
there were various expressions of
international concern.
"France urges the authorities
and attorney of the state of
Georgia to stop (Davis') execution, as there are still genuine
and serious doubts as to his
guilt," said a statement from
the French Foreign Ministry
yesterday.
"By executing a prisoner when
there are serious doubts as to his
guilt, (the authorities) would be
making an irreparable error,"
it said. The secretary-general
of the Council of Europe also
called for the execution to be
halted. — AFP

NEW YORK

Obama botches group photo
AFTER giving a speech at the
United Nations yesterday to
mark the launch of the Open
Government Partnership initiative for greater transparency in
government, President Obama
joined other leaders for a group
photo — and apparently failed
to realise he isn't transparent.
The president waved during
the photo (pic), completely
blocking the face of a man to
his right, Politico reports. The
other nations joining the UN
initiative are Mexico, Indonesia,
South Africa, the Philippines,
and Brazil.

Later, Obama toasted Ban at
an annual lunch at the United
Nations General Assembly,
the first since Ban was unanimously elected in June to a
second term.
"A lot of us are envious of
him because in running for
a second term he ran unopposed," Obama said in a toast
to the former South Korean
foreign minister.
"He won unanimously. I'm
still trying to learn what his
trick is," Obama said, drawing laughter from leaders and
guests at the luncheon.

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

State prosecutors yesterday withdrew terrorism and sabotage charges against two Mexicans who spread
rumours of criminal attacks, which turned out to be untrue, on social networks Twitter and Facebook — AFP

BEIJING

Street beggar exposed as fraud
A NETIZEN disclosed on the popular
Chinese forum Mop.com that a beggar in
Beijing's commercial centre Xidan is actually
a millionaire who owns several properties
and four cars, causing an Internet sensation.
Other netizens replied on the post that
they had seen the same man many times
and described his frantic way of begging —
kneeling on the ground and continuously
kowtowing to get people's sympathy and
money while an old woman who appears
to be seriously ill lies beside him, reports
China Daily.
The chengguan, or urban management
officers, in charge of the Xidan area said
the man was found begging on the street
several times.
"We don't know how much he earns and
we have no legal jurisdiction to fine him
either," said an officer from Xidan's urban

Seoul

Hungry N. Korean
soldiers steal
from civilians
North Korea has stepped up a
crackdown on soldiers in a northeastern city who are stealing from
locals because they cannot survive
on their food rations, a report said
yesterday.
Military police have been stationed in the streets of Hyesan
city to check the identification
of soldiers, said the Daily NK, a
Seoul-based online newspaper run
by defectors.
North Korean soldiers are supposed to receive about 800 grams
of food per day in rations but this
has shrunk to about 540 grams,
it said.
"They are hungry and they are
heading for local farms to steal
(food)," Daily NK said, citing a
source in Hyesan.
"The weather is getting colder and
the number of soldiers deserting
their posts is rising."
Since June, a military driver training school in Hyesan has handed
out only about 170 grams of food.
Hungry soldiers have also been
stealing clothes, shoes and other
items from homes in broad daylight
to sell in the market, it said.
The North has a Songun (army
first) policy which prioritises military welfare. But there have been
several reports that soldiers are
suffering from food shortages along
with civilians.
The country was hit by famine in
the 1990s which killed hundreds of
thousands and has relied partly on
international food aid ever since.
But donations to UN programmes
have dwindled due to international
irritation at the North's missile
and nuclear programmes. Seoul
suspended its annual shipment of
rice and fertiliser in 2008.
The North this year asked the
United States and other nations for
food aid, but there are differences
over its requirements. — AFP

SHAM: A screenshot from the video clip
showing the beggar and an old woman
lying on the ground beside him in Xidan

management department.
The post, attracting 100,000 hits, said the
man could earn up to 4,000 yuan (RM1,970)
per hour.
The beggars fled in haste when they found
themselves being recorded and to everyone's
surprise, the woman lying on the ground
actually walked like a normal person, according to the video uploaded to Ku6.com.

WORLD
AGENDA

OCTOBER 2011
Oct
Oct27,
27,Ireland:
Ireland:
Martin
MartinMcGuinness,
McGuinness,
former
formerIrish
Irish
Republican
Republican
Army
Armycommander
commander
and
and now
nowdeputy
deputy
first
firstminister
minister
in in
Northern
NorthernIreland,
Ireland,
stands
standsfor
for
election
election
as
asPresident
President
of of
thethe
Republic
Republicofof
Ireland.
Ireland.
He
He isisaacandidate
candidate
for for
Sinn
SinnFein,
Fein,
the
the
fourth
fourth
largest
largestparty
party
in in
thethe
country
country

October,
October,Moscow:
Moscow:
The
The
gas
gas war
war between
between Russia
Russia –
–
owner
owner of
of major
major energy
energy
reserves
reserves –
– and
and Ukraine
Ukraine –
–
owner
owner of
of the
the largest
largest pipeline
pipeline
network
network to
to Western
Western Europe
Europe –
–
may
may intensify
intensify as
as Russia
Russia
begins
begins pumping
pumping gas
gas via
via
the
the Baltic
Baltic sea.
sea. Its
Its 1,230km
1,230km
Nord
NordStream
Stream
pipeline
pipeline
cost
cost $12
US$12
billion
billion
Oct,
Oct,Norfolk,
Norfolk,
England:
England:Water
Water
is
is pumped
pumped
through
throughaa1km
1km
hosepipe
hosepipeinto
into
aa huge
hugehelium
helium
balloon
balloonasaspart
part
of
of an
anexperiment
experiment
to
to re-create
re-create
the
the
cooling
coolingeffects
effects
The
The
Stratospheric
Stratospheric
of
of volcanoes
volcanoes
Particle
ParticleInjection
Injection for
for
on
on the
theearth’s
earth’s
Climate
ClimateEngineering
Engineering
atmosphere.
atmosphere.
project
projectruns
runs for
for
three
threeyears
years
Pictures: Getty
Pictures:
Getty
Images
Images

NEW YORK

world

13

Bill's big
wallet

List of richest Americans include Buffett, Zuckerberg
BILL GATES tops this year's
Forbes list of the 400 richest
Americans with a net worth calculated at US$59 billion (RM186
billion).
Forbes says the Microsoft cofounder saw his wealth increase
by US$5 billion from last year,
reports the Hindustan Times.
Investor Warren Buffett ranks
second with a fortune of US$39

billion, though Forbes said the
Berkshire Hathaway Inc chief
executive's wealth shrank by US$6
billion from a year ago.
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison
rounds out the top three with a
net worth of US$33 billion, a US$6
billion increase from 2010.
George Soros entered the top
10 list for the first time at seventh.
Forbes estimates his wealth at

Oct13,
Oct
13,Washington:
Washington:
South
South
Korea’s
Korea’s
President
President
Lee Myung-bak
Lee
Myung-bak
visits
visits
the the
White
White
House
House
for talks
for talks
with President
with
President
Obama
Obama
thatthat
are expected
are expected
to
to
include the
include
thelargest
largest
U.S.US
free
free
trade
trade
pactpact
in in
a generation.
a
generation.
The
The
pact,
pact,
which
which
would
would
slash 95%
slash
95 per
of tariffs
centbetween
of tariffs
the
between
two
the
nations,
two
nations,
was signed
was signed
in 2007
in
2007but
buthas
has
yet to
yet
toreceive
receive
congressional
congressional
approval
approval

Oct
Oct11,
11,
Monrovia:
Monrovia:Ellen
Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf,
Johnson-Sirleaf,
Africa’s
Africa’s first
first and
and
only
only woman
woman head
head
of
of state,
State, is
is poised
poised for
for
re-election
re-election in
in Liberia’s
Liberia’s first
first
domestically
domestically organised
organised vote
vote
since
since its
its civil
civil war
war ended
ended in
in 2003.
2003.
She
She came
came to
to power
power in
in UNUNorganised
organised polls
polls in
in 2005
2005
Oct
Oct15,
15,Haiti:
Haiti:
The
The
UN
UN
peacekeeping
peacekeeping
mandate expires
mandate
expires amid
amid allegations
allegations of
of
excessive use
excessive
use of
of force
force by
by troops.
troops. Haitian
Haitian
president Michel
president
Michel Martelly
Martelly
is is
expected
expected
to ask
to
ask for
for the
the mission
mission to
to be
be
renewed but
renewed
but demonstrators
demonstrators
demand its
demand
its withdrawal
withdrawal

Iran hangs
convicted
teen killer
IRAN yesterday carried out two
hangings, including the public
execution of a teenage boy
convicted of killing an athlete
billed as "Iran's strongest man",
local media reported. Despite
calls by human rights group
Amnesty International for an
11th-hour stay of the 17-yearold's execution, Alireza MollaSoltani was sent to the gallows
at the scene of the crime in the
city of Karaj. A large crowd of
people had gathered to witness
the hanging and security
forces were present "to ensure
the sentence was carried out
without any glitches," the official
IRNA news agency reported.
Molla-Soltani was sentenced to
death last month for stabbing
the popular athlete, Ruhollah
Dadashi, to death in July. — AFP

Clooney 'weds'
on Norwegian
television

Oct
Oct30,
30,New
New
Delhi:
Delhi:
Formula
Formula
One’s
One’s
inaugural
inaugural Indian
IndianGrand
Grand
Prix
Prix
takes
takes
place
place with
with Narain
NarainKarthikeyan
Karthikeyan
thethe
homegrown
homegrown hopeful
hopeful behind
behind the
the wheel
wheel
for
for the
the HRT
HRTteam.
team.The
Theevent
eventwill
willbe
be
the
the 17th
17th race
race of
of the
the season
season
Oct
Oct8,8,Wales:
Wales:
Christina
Christina
Aguilera
Aguilera
(left), (left),
Cee
CeeLo
LoGreen
Green
and
and
JLSJLS
playplay
at aatMichael
a Michael
Jackson
Jacksontribute
tributeconcert
concertatatCardiff’s
Cardiff’s
Millennium
Millennium Stadium.
Stadium. The
The Michael
Michael Forever
Forever
gig
gig also
also features
features The
TheJacksons,
Jacksons,
brothers
brothers of
of the
the late
late King
King of
of Pop
Pop
Research: Kate
Research:
Kate Edgley
Edgley

US$22 billion. Three members of
the Walton family, descendants of
Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton,
also are among the top 10 wealthiest in 2011.
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg
is at No. 14 with US$17.5 billion,
putting him ahead of Google's
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who
are tied at No. 15 with US$16.7
billion each.

ACTOR George Clooney (pic)
plays on his "perpetual bachelor"
reputation with a television spot
for Norwegian Bank DnB NOR,
reports Relaxnews. The advert,
posted online last week, opens
with a newlywed woman waking
with a giant diamond on her
finger and staggering around a
hotel room. When Clooney enters
the suite, he kisses his new wife,
shows her an image of their new
home on the Internet and seems
pleased to fulfill her fantasy. The
tagline states: Some people are
lucky in life. For the rest of us,
saving can be smart.

14

world

A 77-year-old Ukrainian man won a jar full of sour cream for coming first in a dumpling eating contest and
then promptly died, local media reported yesterday. Ivan Mendel ate 10 dumplings in half a minute. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Reuters

ARCHBISHOP Desmond
Tutu said yesterday he is as
passionate about fighting the
widespread practice of child
marriage as he was when he
helped bring down apartheid
in South Africa.
"My passion (that) I now
hope to translate, transfer
to this, is the same passion,
commitment that I had when
I was fighting, we were fighting, against apartheid," Tutu
told a conference in New
York, where activists spoke
out against the estimated 10
million marriages of underage girls around the world
each year.
Tutu, a Nobel peace prize

laureate and a hero of the
struggle to end white minority
rule in his native South Africa,
said he came late to the realisation of how common child
marriage is and how much
damage it causes.
"For a very, very long time
I didn't know," he told a panel
at the Clinton Global Initiative
meeting in New York.
"I thought it was something
that happens only in India."
The reality, Tutu said, left him
"devastated".
"The statistics are shattering.
If we do nothing about it, 10
million girl children under the
age of 18 will have been married this year. You think: in a

decade that's 100 million."
Once an underage girl is
forced into the role of wife
and childbearer, she will drop
out of education, be unable
to work, and likely opt out
of programmes to improve
health, causing wider impact
across society, according to
Tutu.
"We can just as well forget
doing anything about eradicating poverty or hunger. We
can forget about universal
primary education," he said.
"We can forget about gender
equality. We can forget about
maternal health. We can forget
about doing anything significant about HIV/AIDS." Tutu

said that when a girl becomes
a mother under the age of 15,
she is five times more likely
to die in childbirth than a
mother of 19 or 20. Niger is
believed to lead the world
in child marriage, which is
also common in central and
western Africa, parts of Asia
and in the Middle East, with
motives ranging from economic arrangements to tribal
traditions.
Tutu, who turns 80 next
month, was in New York promoting the Girls Not Brides
campaign, headed by a group
of prominent humanitarian
activists called The Elders.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
AFP

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

LOS ANGELES

Timberlake's all-nighter
with Johansson
JESSICA BIEL'S face will go
scarlet when she hears about
this.
Us Weekly revealed Justin
Timberlake spent the night
of Sept 14 with another
Hollywood beauty :
Single-again Scarlett
Johansson (pic),
his costar in his
2007 What Goes
Aroun d C om e s
Around video.
Timberlake, 30,
and Johansson, 26,
we re " h ard c ore
flirting" during a
raucous evening
at NYC hotspot
1Oak, a witness
tells Us. "Other
guys were trying to talk with
Scarlett but she
was only focused
on Justin."
The duo
partied
until dawn
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; le aving
at 5.30am and

getting pizza next door, the
source said. The one-on-one
party continued just a few
hours later when Timberlake
showed up at the Iron Man 2
actress' midtown penthouse
apartment.
Greeting the doorman and introducing
himself as "Justin,"
Timberlake "wasn't
even low-key" about
his visit, another
witness noted.
"They've
hooked up
several
times
over the
years," a
pal confirmed of
the pair. But
Timberlake just
got back together
with longtime love
Biel, 29, merely a
month ago. "For the
moment," another
insider says, "she's
trusting him."

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

Facebook users yesterday took to complaining about changes intended to make it easier to
manage the torrents of updates from friends at the world's largest social network — AFP
LONDON

LOS ANGELES

Hero
of zero

Martin writes
'Oscar letter'
to Murphy
FORMER Oscars host Steve
Martin has written an open
letter to next year's MC Eddie
Murphy, giving him a list of
"tips" to help his evening go
swimmingly.
The jokey letter, published
in full on Steve Martin's
website, included guidance
on everything from losing
weight to consoling losers.
One piece of advice said:
"If you feel tired midway
through, give Neil Patrick
Harris a Red Bull and throw
some sheet music at him."
The Man With Two Brains
and The Jerk funnyman also
made fun of his 2010 cohost, Alec Baldwin, advising
Murphy against picking a
joint emcee because they "are
a pain and end up breaking
your Saturday Night Live
hosting record".
While the initial announcement of Murphy hosting the
most prestigious film awards
show was met with criticism,
many are now on board with
giving the Beverley Hills Cop
and 48 Hours star a chance,
reports Rolling Stone.

Gender-bending male model
has hard time fitting into
women's wear

FEMIMAN: Takes discipline for Pejic to wear women's clothes

LONDON

Adele forgives ex who inspired '21'
BRITISH soul star Adele
has reconnected with the
ex-boyfriend who broke her
heart and inspired her hit
album 21.
The singer wrote the charttopping album about her
painful break-up after splitting
from the unnamed ex, who
she called her “soulmate”.
Now, Adele revealed she has
forgiven her former lover and
they have even been in contact
to “share” the success of 21,

reports Contactmusic.
Speaking at a London concert earlier this week, the star
told fans: “We’re becoming
friends again. It’s alright, I
know what I’m doing. Enough
time has gone by now.
“Now with what’s going on
with the album around the
world, it’s important to be able
to share it with him. Because
it’s marvellous what has happened. He changed my life, I
can’t deny that."

LOS ANGELES

It's the end of R.E.M. as we know it
ALTERNATIVE rock band
R.E.M. (pic) — comprising
singer Michael Stipe, 51,
guitarist Peter Buck, 54, and
bassist Mike Mills, 52 —
announced they have broken
up after 31 years together.
"As lifelong friends and coconspirators, we have decided
to call it a day as a band," the
band said in a statement on
their official website.

"We walk away with a great
sense of gratitude, of finality
and of astonishment at all we
have accomplished."
Throughout their career,
R .E.M. has released 15
albums, including Murmur,
Reckoning, Document, Out
of Time, New Adventures in
Hi-Fi, Up and Automatic For
the People, reports Rolling
Stone.

IT takes a lot more than being
a pretty boy for Andrej Pejic
to grace international runways
as a pretty girl, like having the
waist of a child, reports the
Daily Telegraph.
The controversial crossdressing catwalker — signed
to the same British agency
that discovered Kate Moss and
Lily Cole — has revealed he
starves himself to be able to
strut to the same tune as topof-the-crop models, who are
far from pleased that a guy has
been stealing their gigs.
"To do women's wear, I
have to be disciplined," the
20-year-old told this week's
British Grazia.

"My waist has gone from
29 to 25 inches. My hips are
35 inches."
That's a US size 0 and to put
it into perspective, the average
waist size of an eight-yearold is 22 inches. The Aussie
"femiman" is unapologetic
about his rapid rise up the
modelling ladder or those
who see him as a rival, adding:
"I don't know what the girls
think about me. They are very
competitive."
Born in Bosnia and raised
in Melbourne, Pejic recently
said he had no plans for a sex
change. "I don't want to be a
girl, but I like to dress as a
girl," he said.

SYDNEY

Cyrus adds voice to
Phillip Island fight

TEEN star Miley Cyrus has joined the fight
against the Baillieu government in Victoria
and its decision to allow a major housing
development on Phillip Island farmland.
The Hannah Montana star has thrown
her celebrity clout behind a community
campaign to preserve land near the township of Ventnor, where she is a frequent visitor to the family home of her beau, Liam
Hemsworth, reports the Herald Sun.
After Planning Minister Matthew Guy
overturned a council decision and extended the township boundaries to allow up
to 200 extra houses to be built on coastal
farmland, Cyrus took to Twitter to publicly
support the anti-development campaign to
her 2.5 million followers.
"Phillip Island is such a magical place, it
would be a shame to see it change," Cyrus
tweeted yesterday.
The Ventnor community is planning a
protest today to coincide with the gazetting of the new town boundaries ordered
by Guy to open land for homes.
Guy's spokeswoman, Bronwyn Perry,
said the land had been earmarked for
potential expansion since 1971 and planning controls had been placed to ensure
any development protects the coast and
vegetation.
"It's fantastic that Ms Cyrus recognises the beauty of Phillip Island, and the
government can assure her that it has no
intention of spoiling the natural landscape
of this unique area," she said.

world

15

Federer second
to Mandela
SWISS tennis player Roger
Federer’s reputation as a
respected personality is second
only to that of former South
African president Nelson
Mandela, a new global study
of more than 50,000 people in
25 countries shows. Federer
finished ahead of Bill Gates,
Steve Jobs and the Queen
Elizabeth II in the 2011 Leader
RepTrak, which assesses the
reputations of the world's 54
most visible public figures in
politics, business, culture and
sports. Derek Jeter was the
second highest-rated athlete on
the list at No. 16, while David
Beckham finished at No. 24,
one place behind LeBron James,
report the Hindustan Times.

Pitt: Zahara
would be dead
ACTOR Brad Pitt is convinced his
eldest daughter with Angelina
Jolie would certainly have died if
she had not been adopted from
Africa by the Hollywood couple.
Pitt told Parade magazine he
was convinced the youngster
would not have survived if they
had not taken her in. "I have
seen children suffer far beyond
what we experience in America,
like our oldest daughter. I know
she would not be alive. I know
what care was available to her
and it was nil. I cannot imagine
life without her."

Pattinson to
cut album
ACTOR Robert Pattinson is
reportedly recording an album.
The 25-year-old Twilight actor
is said to consider music as
his "first love" and is working
on the record before he has to
get back to promoting latest
movie Breaking Dawn. "Rob
has been kicking a few original
songs around for a long time
but his schedule didn't allow it,"
an insider told Us Weekly. "The
album Rob will make will be
guitar-based and drums, very
organic-sounding, nothing pop,"
a second source added.

Cole's 'girl
crush' on Diaz

THE OUTDOORS TYPE: Cyrus (left) and Hemsworth

POP singer Cheryl Cole (pic
right) admits she has a crush
on Hollywood actress Cameron
Diaz (pic left), after the singer
shot some scenes with her for
the movie What To Expect When
You're Expecting. Cole, 28,
makes a special appearance in
the movie as a judge for a talent
show. "Cameron is amazing.
Honestly, I've got such a girl
crush on her. She's such an
amazing woman. It's just so
good to be doing new stuff,"
Contactmusic reports.

Enterta

16 lifestyle

Successful ‘Langgar’ with direc

ALL IN THE FAMILY: The cast and crew of 'Lang
however, was in Sepi.
Sein’s directorial debut will
be seen in a gangster movie
Langgar. Perhaps it was inspired
by the success of Shamsul Yusof’s
works, including the RM12 million
blockbuster KL Gangster.
The
idea
for
Langgar was sparked by Pierre
Andre, who wrote three chapters
of the first draft of the story.
Sein took over and ended up
completing the whole script.
“Langgar falls in the gangster
film genre but it is not entirely
about gangsterism. The story is
simple. It is about a man who is
frustrated with all that is happening
to him and his family and seeks
revenge, making a bad move and
all the wrong decisions. One bad
turn and he winds up surrounded
in gangsterism.”
Sein is lucky to have Tayangan
Unggul Sdn Bhd supporting his
ideas. The film company also
gave him the freedom to explore
and make decisions for the film.
He was also backed by a strong
team.

DIRECTION: Sein showing the
ropes to one of the cast —
PiX: ARIF KARTONO
Mustafa,
also
known
as
Sein, who started out as a singer
and a member of the band MOB
before joining Ruffedge.
From singing, Sein moved on to
TV hosting and acting and now,
he is ready to take a step further
by becoming a director.
Perhaps his days as an actor
had taught him a thing or two

By CHE'AZ
cheaz@mmail.com.my
THE film fraternity is moving
full
steam
ahead
these
days. Every other day you’d get
announcements of new projects
helmed by a growing crop of
creative people.
Whether they are just going
with the flow, or really creating
history, these young and
passionate talents do not seem to
be slowing down.
Meet Syed Hussein Syed

about directing. Sein started
acting almost 10 years ago as
one of the main characters in the
popular series Spanar Jaya that
was shown on ntv7.
He moved on to film a few years
later, starring in Tipah Tertipu,
a movie that shared the same
title as the hit by Ruffedge. His
most successful screen project,

I already have
another script with
me. This time it is
a psycho-thriller. If
everything goes
well with 'Langgar',
we will continue
the project,
hopefully, with
Tayangan Unggul as
well, next year.
- Syed Hussein Syed Mustafa
CHECK BACK:
Looking at the takes

ainment

cting

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

For the fallen heroes of war
CITY ON FIRE starts with a
rather old quote, “The truth
has always been the first
casualty in war”.
Ironically, after watching
it, one realises it lacks
that “investigative nature”
that would reveal the truth,
or whatever it was the movie
hoped to convey.

Whatever good intention the
filmmaker had, there was hardly
enough “truth” that was exposed
about the 2008 conflict between

ggar'
Among the actors in Langgar
are Adi Putra (in the lead role
as Nizam), Nadia Heng as Aina,
Namron as Radzi, Bell Ngasri as
Khairul, Zul Huzaimy as Loy and
Hans Isaac as Jimi.
“We believe in Sein because
of his passion for the project. We
also looked at his background.
Sein did a short course in London
Film School. Based on what we
have seen, we felt Sein has the
potential to be the next new
director in our industry,” Tayangan
Unggul producer Gayathri Su
Pillai said.
Shooting for Langgar is in
progress, mainly in the Klang
Valley. The film is expected to be
released in October next year.
Sein said he could not wait to
see the result and is now psyched
and geared up to move on with
filming.
“I already have another script
with me. This time it is a psychothriller. If everything goes well
with Langgar, we will continue the
project, hopefully, with Tayangan
Unggul as well, next year."

17

Russia and Georgia.
While
the
opening
captured
one’s
attention,
especially with words like “based
on true events”, the director
Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2 and
Cliffhanger) tried to drive
the point home by being
generous with flying bullets
and lots of explosions (a lot
of tanks were blown up by
the way).
The film revolves around
Thomas Anders (Rupert
Friend), a young war
correspondent who is
joined by cameraman
Sebastian (Richard
Coyle),
making
their rounds to
get an exclusive
report
during
the war between
Russia
and
Georgia.
R u s s i a n
tanks
entered
the country and
rained artilleries on
innocent
villagers
who
narrowly
escaped the terror. As
the war reached full
scale, Anders recorded
evidence of war crime
committed
against
civilians that shocked the
world.

BLOODY: Film shows realities of war and the journalists and
cameramen who risk their lives to tell the world the truth
City on Fire (also known as
Five Days of War), might serve
as a great way to see the reality
of war, and the fact that it is
shown here in Malaysia seems
to coincide with something
closer to home — our very own
BernamaTV cameraman was
killed by a stray bullet while on
assignment in Somalia.
While most moviegoers would
be entertained by the drama
and action, the movie can be
summed up as a little tribute of
sorts to all war journalists and
cameramen who risk their lives
for the sake of the truth.
The movie has a unique
representation of the war in
that it was also about brave

Georgian soldiers on the front
line, protecting their country.
However, there is graphic
violence involving Russian
soldiers
happily
shooting
grandmothers in their legs and
slitting the throats of innocent
villagers.
As the film shows harrowing
scenes of life in hell on earth,
the movie is strictly for people
who are interested in history
and warfare. There is little to
offer non-fans, other than some
realistic war scenes.
But there are some intense
and loaded moments when one
would think: “Would you do the
same?” — By LOONG WAI
TING

Mr NiceGuy does forensic investigation

PLAYING COPS: (Left) Ng and Tsui
WHENEVER Hong Kong
Television Broadcast Limited
(TVB) actor Ron Ng plays
Mr Nice Guy in Hong Kong
dramas, it will be assumed
it’s a put-on, and that he
works hard to maintain
his goody-two-shoes image
in real life too.
Well, he doesn’t. In
person, Ng is as nice as he
is on television. No, this is
not a hard-sell campaign
to promote the actor who
will soon be seen in the
upcoming
drama/thriller,
Forensic Heroes 3, starring
many A-listers like Wayne Lai
and Maggie Cheung.
Ng was in Kuala Lumpur to

promote the new project and
he was accompanied by costar Kate Tsui, who last set foot
here a couple of weeks ago to
promote her upcoming concert
in Genting Highlands.
Both actors began their
promo of the drama in Penang.
In Forensic Heroes 3, a TV
series touted as one of the
blockbusters of the year, both Ng
and Tsui play cops, with Tsui as
Ng’s superior. Although the two
are acting alongside many more
experienced actors like two
times TV King, Wayne Lai and
Maggie Cheung, Ng said there
was no pressure.
“Both of us had confidence in
the drama and I was very

confident with the script,” said
Tsui.
However, Tsui did confess it
was not that easy to memorise
the script as it was tougher than
it looked.
“There were so many
scientific terms to remember,
but thankfully, I didn’t have
much to memorise, unlike
Cheung’s character, who had to
really know what she was talking
about. My trick was to memorise
the last two words of her script
then continue from there!”
Ng shared the sentiment and
said he learnt a great deal from
working with the TV King.
“He is such a professional. He
seldom brings his script to the
set as he has memorised them
all beforehand.”
Ng and Tsui are also busy
with their own projects after
completing the TV drama.
“Besides promoting the new
series, I’ll be preparing for the
shoot of the movie version of
Lives of Omission. There would
be another film project after
that. So, it will be until the end
of this year before I get to shoot
another TV series” said Tsui.
Forensic Heroes 3 will premier
on Astro On Demand (channel
921) beginning Oct 10 at
9.30pm. — By LOONG WAI
TING

Entertainment

18 lifestyle

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

Purring with love
Alleycats’ concert drops jaws
By SITI NURSURAYA ALI
suaray@mmail.com.my
IF you’re an Alleycats fan,
you'd either be a 70s or 80s
kid or a young person with an
old soul.
Songs by the Alleycats
have that ability to transport
you back to the days when
bellbottoms and hairspray
ruled the day.
Some of us might even say
the Alleycats hark of retro
although there will be those
who would argue that the
band is still relevant. The fact
is, Alleycats is still around after
four decades. The members
are loyal, and they are still
playing.
These
days,
minus
Loganathan
(who
died
of cancer), Datuk David
Arumugam is joined by a
young singer (sans the Afro),
Glenn.
At the recent Alleycats'
Sampaikan Salam concert
at Istana Budaya in Kuala
Lumpur, Glenn showed he
totally belonged in the band.
In fact, he proved his worth
as a singer and might just help
the band remain even more
relevant.
He is a breath of fresh air and

seems to exude an impressive
stage presence. Glenn kept
the audience glued to the
stage.
Hardly anyone left the
concert hall for bathroom
breaks. Instead, the audience
was seen singing along and
dancing in the aisles.
In obvious contrast to the
band's iconic big afro, Glenn is
bald but filled the shoes well
as the experienced band’s new
vocalist.
Some
jaws
definitely
dropped when he
first got on stage.
Attended
by
fans from all over
the city, with
most of them
over the age
of 30, Alleycats
Sampaikan Salam
concert hit the
right note.
There wasn’t a
fan who wasn’t
bobbing his head
or tapping her
feet. Guest singer
Priyadashini Loga
(Loganathan's
daughter), fondly
known as Darsh,
looked
stunning
as she wowed the

DARSH: Like father, like
daughter

FAMILIAR BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: David takes the audience
down memory lane

STILL GOING
STRONG: David
belting out hits
— Pix: SHAHIR
OMAR

Maher Zain, live in Sarawak
EVEN if you're not Godfearing and spiritual music
is not your cup of tea, you
still might not be able to
deny the power of Maher
Zain's music.
If it's not the content,
then it's the composition
or arrangement. Even those
who don't understand
Arabic would

COOL CAT: Audience participation with
and gusto

HAIRY MOMENTS: David (left) laughing about crowning glories

the love everyone had for
the band's late singer Loga,
whose portrait was used
in the backdrop, and
whose family and
friends were in the
crowd.
The
evening,
Sampaikan
Salam
chalked
a
new
milestone in the band’s
journey. For those who had
saved up to be there to
witness it live, it was worth
every sen.

style

audience with her strong
vocal range and ability to
handle her father's songs.
Some of the favourite
numbers that night were
Istana Pasir, Jika Kau Bercinta
Lagi, Senandung Semalam
and Joget Tersalah Pikat.
Hatta Salleh from the
audience braved stage
fright and performed
Setahun Sudah Berlalu
with David.
Hatta
from
Selayang even got a
standing ovation by
the audience for his
bravery. Everyone
loved it.
In all, the show
was spirited and
colourful, and was
frequently peppered
with
interactions
and jokes between
Glenn, David and
the audience. The
atmosphere
was
cheerful and friendly
and the affair was
definitely an event to
remember.
Audiences could feel

MAHER: A phenomenon

be able to get into his music.
Get into any family car of the
Malay or Muslim community
and chances are, you might
just wind up listening to
Maher, while the kids at the
back would be singing along
to Barakallah or InsyaAllah.
The 30-year-old singersongwriter’s influence in
Malaysia, as well as around
the world, has been
phenomenal.
On
Facebook alone,
his
global
fans
have
exceeded two
million in a
span of two years!
His debut album,
titled Thank You Allah,
sold 120,000 units here

and earned eight platinum
awards from his music label
Warner Music Malaysia. In the
same year, he was named the
most Googled personality in
Malaysia.
With the number of
achievements he has gained
and track records he has
accumulated, Maher is now
recognised as a talent in his
own right.
The good news is, Maher is
expected to wow his followers
with his first-ever live concert
in Sarawak in November.
Organised by Marctensia
Concerts, Maher Zain Live
in Sarawak will be held at
Stadium Perpaduan Kuching
at 8pm on Nov 19.
Since he is quite big in this
country, Maher is expected
to attract huge crowds for
his debut concert in Sarawak.
Even fans from neighbouring
countries might flock to the
state as no one wants to miss
that golden opportunity to
support him.
The recognition and solid
support by fans will spur him
to give his best to the concert
but one thing is for sure: Fans
will be mesmerised by his great
performance in Kuching.
Concert tickets are priced
at RM103, RM203 and RM303,
and pre-sale period will go
on until Oct 2. Fans can enjoy
10 per cent discount during
the pre-sale period through
TicketCharge hotline at 03
9222 8811 or online purchases
at www.ticketcharge.com.my.
For VIP tickets, book through
Marctensia hotline at 03 2092
1199 or ticketing@marctensia.
com. For further information,
please visit www.marctensia.
com or contact hotline 0320921199.

Entertainment

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

lifestyle 19

Kids to be awarded too
FOR years, people in other
countries have been celebrating their kids’ multi talents
through their own award
shows. International channels, such as Nickelodeon and
Disney, have been organising
their “kids awards” for years.
These child talents became
big names when they grew
up. Names like Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Justin
Timberlake were once children
whose talents were spotted by
the channels.
Realising the potential in
our child talents, TV3 has
decided to introduce its own
My Kids Awards. That means,
young talents, such as Fimie
Don, Mia Sara Nasuha, Elfira
Loy and Erin Malek and many
more who have long been
part of the industry, get to
be celebrated like their adult

By CHE'AZ
cheaz@mmail.com.my

counterparts.
My Kids Awards is the latest
initiative fromTV3 that could
be a platform to applaud and
appreciate the new generation in the entertainment industry," TV3 Kids Branding
Management team manager
Mohamed Azri Badri said.
The award show will focus
on young people's talents in
acting, singing and hosting.
For the inaugural event, there
will be awards for seven categories.

They are the Most Popular
Male Kids Singer, Most Popular Female Kids Singer, Most
Popular Male Kids Actor, Most
Popular Female Kids Actor,
Cutest Animated Character,
Coolest Host and The Greatest
TV Programme.
"The selection and voting
process will be fully determined by viewers below 18
around the country. The
candidates on the initial list have
been selected

based on their appearances
on TV and cinema right up till
June 30 this year," Mohamed
Azri said.
The show will also
debut four special categories — The Greatest
Idol, Athletes Idol, The
Hottest Host and The
Coolest Artiste. In these
categories, judges will
choose the best
candidates who
have excelled in
their field and inspired others in
the country.
Besides celebrating the nominees, the award
show will feature
performances from
Aizat, Harris (Idola Kecil 3),
Dayana (Idola Kecil 2), Prince
of Pop (P.O.P) Caprice and Nik
Irfan and the dance group The
Leeleesm. Meanwhile, Alif Satar and Zher Peen will host the
one-and-a-half hour show.
The voting period to determine the winners was con-

ducted via www.tv3.com/
mykidsawards and Facebook
M y-K ids-Awards-T V3-K ids
from May to Sept 10 and the
awards show will be shown
live from Sunway Lagoon Amphitheatre, Bandar Sunway,
Petaling Jaya, on Saturday
from 5.30pm until 7pm on
TV3. More info can be found
at tv3kids@tv3.com.my

SUDOKU

ALL READY: (From left) Alif, the stage all set for Saturday's live
broadcast and host Zher

Go crazy with Chim!
by. From the crowd's reaction, my show
would be suitable for anyone from all
walks of life."
The comedian, who is due to appear
at his show's ticket launch on Saturday
at Sungai Wang's Concourse at 12pm,
will engage fans in a mini stage
performance. Audiences are welcome
to participate in the games session
as well. And that's not all. Those who
purchase tickets at the ticket launch
will be entitled to merchandise and
autographed posters from the man
himself.
On his upcoming concert in Malaysia,
Chim said: "Malaysia is a multi-cultural
country and the language itself is
unique. There'll be a lot of fun. I want
you (fans) to go crazy with me!"
Since conquering the stage as a
successful comic, he revealed he never
stays in one character for long even
though it may be highly popular with
the crowd.
"Popularity is like current news, it can
go out of style. That’s why I will evolve
my character into 'someone' else. This
way, audiences will always get to see a
fresh and different side of me.
"I always give spontaneous shows

HOW TO PLAY
Sudoku X is a simple variation of Sudoku with the only difference
being the squares in white (which make up the numeral X) need to
tally from 1 to 9 along with the remaining coloured squares.

QUICK CHANGE: Chim takes jabs
at society while doing hilarious
impersonations
using current issues as the main theme.”
HK La Tiger Stand Up Theater Comedy
Live in Malaysia 2011 will be held at
Stadium Putra, Bukit Jalil, on Nov 26
at 8pm. Tickets are priced from RM83
to RM450. For more information, visit
www.marctensia.com — Pic and story
by LOONG WAI TING

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTION

HE is known for his satirical brand of
humour which he expertly spins to get
a laugh and make a point.
When Hong Kong comedian Jim
Chim, also known as Chim Sir, arrived
in Malaysia yesterday, he brought with
him his ever-witty persona, poking fun
at local issues, especially at lingo, that
was immediately well-received among
the Press and fans.
"Just throw me a wig and I'll change
into a different person all together," he
said when met at his HK La Tiger Stand
Up Theater Comedy Live in Malaysia 2011
concert Press conference.
Chim, who is always well-known for
his multiple and yet colourful character
impersonations, especially when he
"transforms" into a woman, said: "Expect
a lot of impersonations of famous
people like Eric Tsang, Jackie Chan and
even Aaron Kwok. There will be plenty
of things to see and hear as well."
Chim, who began his first fan meeting
at the KDU University College in
Damansara yesterday, felt local fans are
very unique. "Really, when I came here,
I didn't expect to see so many people.
Some, of course, knew me from my
shows, others were just curious passers-

20

the malay mail

THURSDAY 22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

THURSDAY 22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

the malay mail

21

22

PROPERTY / MOTORING / HEALTH / HOME / OTHERS / JOB

the malay mail

Thursday 22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

Readers can also look out for classified
ads ONLINE as early as 9.00a.m at
www.mmail.com.my

PROVEN & TESTED: Over
9,215 people won 4D in a
week! Last 2 days for those
who want to take the 1 hour
4D Training Prediction Course,
to win this week coaching by
the Professional Author and
Physics Maths Expert at our
Training Center at Pusat Kajian
Fizik Sains, Sunway. Call: 019329 4728 Mr. Yap or 012-239
2775 Mr. Goh to book now.
Get this new 4D Formula book
title: Rahsia Menang Lottery
4D Akhirnya Terbongkar. Click
to see www.SureKena.com
UNLEASH THE MUSIC INSIDE
YOU.
Classes
for-guitars,
drums, saxophones, keyboards,
Piano, violin.Call 03- 7873 6388.

CRAFT BAKERS, AN European
style community bakery for
organic breads & sandwiches
located at Solaris Dutamas
urgently requires 2 cafe staff to
prepare & serve sanwiches &
coffee. Training will be provided
for sandwich & food preparation
& barista skills. Previous
experience will be an advantage.
Working hour btwn 9am & 5pm.
Hourly rate between RM7 to
RM9 depending on experience
& performance. Must be able to
speak English. School leavers
are encouraged to apply if you
would like to learn & develop
skills in bakery industry. Contact
Gandhi at: 012-290 054 / Email to
caftbakers@craftbakers.org.uk

BUS DRIVERS WITH E License
& Van Drivers (male/female)
needed for international school
based in KL. Call: 03-4044 8081
/ 012-234 8081 (10am-5pm)
BUSINESS MANAGERS â “ RM
20,000.00 and more per month
can be earned. An excellent
opportunity to be your own Boss
by joining a 3rd party outsource
company handling personal
loans. The role requires previous
experience handling a team of
sales people. Candidates with
Supervisory and interpersonal
skills and the ability to motivate
a team are preferred. Call: 032072 5588 Jessica or Thava,
mobile
number
016-201
8007 for immediate interview.
C&S consulting engineers
looking
for
junior
drafts
person. Contact 012-3236682

SAPURA hitman Azreen Rizal
Nasir hopes his teammates
take note of their complacent
performance against Maybank
yesterday.
Sapura won the match 3-2
but Azreen believes the team
were wrong to take their foot
off the pedal in the second-half
after leading 3-0 in the first 21
minutes of the match.
"We felt the match was ours.
We got too relaxed and that was
why we conceded the goals,"
said Azreen, 22.
Sapura's performance in the
second-half was similar to their
dismal performance when they
beat Armed Forces 4-0 last
weekend.
Azreen is puzzled how they
lost the plot after Maybank
scored their second goal.
"I was chasing my third goal.
That would have been my sec-

RESULTS
Sapura
KLHC
UniKL
TNB

YESTERDAY
3 Maybank
7 UiTM
4 Yayasan N. Sembilan
5 Nur Insafi

2
2
3
1

ond hattrick in as many games,"
added Azreen.
The Malaysia Hockey League
top scorer with five goals wants
to win the overall title after
being a losing finalist in the last
couple of years.
However, he admits Sapura
are yet to hit their stride.
Azreen scored in the first
minute of the match before adding his second in the 21st minute. S. Kuhan scored the other
goal via a penalty corner in the
16th minute. Maybank goals
were scored by Mohd Zulhairi
Hashim (26th and 44th minute)
through penalty corners.

Nostalgia for
sporting greats
IT was a night to remember when
veteran sportsmen were feted at
the Olympic Council of Malaysia
indoor sports arena last Friday.
The event was part of the inaugural
Malaysia Day Ex-Internationals/
State Invitational Soccer 9s.
Datuk Soh Chin Aun was awarded for being the most capped
Malaysian international while V.
Kalimuthu of Malacca received an
award for being the oldest player
of the invitational tournament.
Awards were also given to
the families of the late Datuk
Mokhtar Dahari, the late Datuk R.

Arumugam and the late Isa Bakar
in recognition for their contribution to the game.
N. Thanabalan received an
award for the record four goals he
struck in the Malaysia Cup final
between Selangor and Penang in
1968. Selangor won 8-1 and his
record stands till today.
Also present were several exinternational hockey players
and sports journalists from
the past, such as Bill Tegju,
Datuk Fauzi Omar, George
Das, Lazarus Rokk and P'ng
Hong Kwan.

ALL GROWN UP:
The late Arumugam's
daughters, Rubha
and Subha

26

sports

World badminton No 1 Datuk Lee Chong Wei marched into the
second round of the Japan Open in Tokyo yesterday — Bernama

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

Pressing
Jenson's buttons

SINGAPORE: MOTORSPORTS/ FORMULA 1

SINGAPORE:
MOTORSPORTS/
FORMULA 1

Vettel
cautiously
seeks
coronation
in Singapore

McLaren driver reveals aim to have fun in Singapore

From Haresh Deol
haresh@mmail.com.my

THERE was much pomp
and fare as Jenson Button
entered the room accompanied by Kings of Leon's Use
Somebody.
Many were eagerly waiting
for the Brit to speak about the
upcoming Singapore Grand
Prix this weekend.
Button instead spoke of his
youth and gave an inside view
into his journey to get to where
he is today.
But what was really at the
back of the minds of serious
enthusiasts was Button’s future
with the McLaren-Mercedes
outfit. Speculations are rife
that Button is set to join
Ferrari in 2013. Yet, no formal announcement has been
made over Button's future with
McLaren beyond next season.
The session at the hotel in
Marina Bay yesterday, which
was part of Johnnie Walker's
"Step Inside the Black Circuit"
campaign, was laid-back but
not too private. Button spoke
about his favourite band Kings
of Leon and gave the thumbs
up to Red Hot Chili Peppers'
latest album I'm With You.
He declined to taste some

BEST MAN FOR
MCLAREN:
Button, signing
autographs, is
seen as his team's
best shot at victory
in Singapore

of the local delicacies on offer,
which included a pandanlayered cake and fried carrot
cake, and preferred not to
dwell into his private life.
Nevertheless, he did reveal
he is game for an epic race on
Sunday.
"It's a fun but tiring circuit.
It's bumpy and is dark at certain places," said Button. "It's a

tough circuit and we just got to
have a good car and be mentally focused. This is basically
the race we train for.
"Hopefully, I'll have a good
outing here. I've never been
on a podium (in Singapore).
The championship is pretty
much over but it is still going
to be fun."
Button stressed it is difficult

LONDON: motorsports/ formula 1

Ferrari look to next season

FERRARI team principal Stefano
Domenicali confirmed they have
halted all development of their
150º Italia chassis in order to
concentrate on next season.
This season has been a disappointing campaign for the
Scuderia, who have secured just
one race victory from 13 Grand
Prix.
Lacking the pace needed to
challenge Red Bull for race wins
or the drivers' and constructors'
titles, Domenicali said a month
ago that any decision to stop
developing this year's car would
be based on their performance in
Belgium and Italy.
However, neither Grand Prix
went their way despite Fernando
Alonso leading both.
Ferrari's relative lack of pace
was sorely evident as the laps
counted down both times,
with the Spaniard falling off
the podium at Spa and only
just holding on for a top three

finish in Italy.
Their problems this season
have been put down to both
a lack of downforce and an
inability to get heat into the car's
Pirelli tyres.
Now, with Red Bull and
Sebastian Vettel seemingly on
course to retain their respective
titles, Domenicali confirmed
that Ferrari are giving up on this
season's campaign.
"We have stopped the development (of the car)," he told BBC
Sport. "It is very, very, very, very,
very difficult now."
"We were expecting a bigger
step in our development in Spa.
Unfortunately, we discovered it
was the opposite, so we took a
step back, and that was also a
step back for Monza."
New technical director Pat Fry
said he hoped that by turning
their full focus to next year's car,
coupled with near stability in
the technical rules, Ferrari can

hit the ground running when
pre-season testing starts again
in February.
"The stability should help. But
it does not mean that automatically you will be able to catch up
your opponents," said Fry.
"We know we have a gap to
recover in terms of performance
and we need an extra effort to get
rid of it — this is one of the main
targets of the winter time.
"Adrian Newey's Red Bull cars
have been the quickest in the last
two or three years.
"But to be honest, I do not
think this is a man-against-man
sport, not at all. It is a very
complex sport in which a very
talented engineer cannot make
everything along as he needs
the support of many people to
succeed.
"At the moment, Red Bull
are the reference — our aim
is to win, whoever will be our
opponents."

to catch up having drifted far
behind. He has 167 points and
is placed third in the driver's
standings. Red Bull's Sebastian
Vettel leads the pack and could
possibly seal victory in the
Republic as he already has 284
points compared to secondplaced Fernando Alonso of
Ferrari on 172 points.
A win by Vettel will make

him the youngest driver to win
the world title back to back.
However, Button enjoyed a
string of good performances
coming into Singapore, and
that could spoil Vettel's party.
"It's difficult for me to say
it's been a good year but I'm
not worried about the championship points now. We've
just got to be aggressive and
win races."
Even team technical director
Paddy Lowe believes McLaren
could have had a better season.
"It's good but not good
enough. We want to win championships and we haven't quite
done it this year," said Lowe.
"We have limited time, limited people and have to strike
a balance between the current
car and thinking of the new
car. We're not looking at the
championships now but we're
still determined to win every
race. We're not giving up."
Lewis Hamilton could yet
pull a surprise for McLaren
but Lowe heaped praise on
Button as many believe the
latter remains the team's best
bet to win the race.
"He focuses on his job, he
is very fast. He's a fantastic
guy."

SEBASTIAN VET TEL
snatched last year's Formula
1 title with victory in the
final race of the season but
the German may need only a
podium finish in Singapore
on Sunday to clinch his second crown with five rounds
remaining.
Leading by 112 points
after 13 of the 19 races, the
24-year-old Red Bull driver's
coronation as the youngest
ever double world champion
looks an inevitable conclusion to a campaign in which
he has already enjoyed eight
wins.
Vettel can achieve his goal
this weekend if he leaves
Singapore with a 125-point
advantage over his nearest rival, currently Ferrari's
Fernando Alonso, but the
German is refusing to claim
the title is in the bag.
"Looking to the championship, there is still some
way to go. We are in a very
strong position, which we
deserve, because we've been
working hard and made few
mistakes," Vettel said.
"As long as we come out
of the next race with a bigger
lead then we start with, then
we have done a good job, so
let's see." — Reuters

Maria Sharapova has some sympathy for the top male players who have made rumblings
about possible strike action over what they see as a too punishing calendar — Reuters

DUNSANY

Outgunned
Europe bank
on Solheim
Cup home
advantage
EUROPE face a monumental task in
their bid to beat the United States at
this week's Solheim Cup for only the
fourth time in 12 editions despite
holding home advantage.
The Americans heavily outgun
their hosts when it comes to world
rankings and they bristle with players who have become accustomed
to winning ways in the biennial team
competition.
"This is my sixth match and I've
only been in one winning team,"
Norwegian world No 2 Suzann
Pettersen told reporters ahead of
Saturday's start at Killeen Castle.
"But the rest (of the matches)
have all been so close and I think
this is one of the strongest European
teams. We just have to go out and
believe in ourselves.
"We need to play well on Saturday
and Sunday and hopefully be ahead
going into the final day singles. The
crowd will be on our side and they
could be our 15th club in the bag."
Pettersen is the highest-ranked
player on either team but she is the
only European in the world's top 20.
In stark contrast, the US boast seven
players in the top 20.
Though the Americans will be bidding to clinch the trophy for a fourth
consecutive time, veteran Juli Inkster
has played down the favourite tag for
the visiting team.
"I think this is the deepest the
Europeans have been in terms of
strength," said the 51-year-old, who
is the oldest player ever to compete
in a Solheim Cup.
"They have five rookies on their
side but they are all playing well.
We are going to go out and play like
underdogs."
For Europe, 47-year-old Briton
Laura Davies continues her amazing
Solheim run, having played in all 11
previous editions.
"The Solheim has changed so
much since the first one at Lake
Nona (in Florida) in 1990," said
Davies. "This team is as good as
we've ever had."
There are five rookies on Alison
Nicholas's European team — Sandra
Gal, Caroline Hedwall, Azahara
Munoz, Christel Boeljon and Melissa
Reid.
One player, who will command a
great deal of attention this week will
be American Michelle Wie, who made
a spectacular Solheim debut in 2009
at Rich Harvest Farms in Illinois.
Wie ended that week unbeaten,
recording three wins and a half, to
showcase her massive potential
which, arguably, is still so unfulfilled
with just two victories on the LPGA
Tour.
"Last time, I felt like a freshman at college," the 21-year-old
Hawaiian said. "This time I have
some experience, but it is my first
time in Ireland and my first Solheim
overseas. It's the greatest honour to
represent the US." — Reuters

sports

27

LONDON: TENNIS

Right to strike

It's okay for top stars to take control of their professional lives, says Navratilova
FORMER Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova
believes the sport's leading
male players are right to consider going on strike in a bid
to take control of their overcrowded schedule.
Navratilova knows from
experience just how draining
life on the tennis circuit can
be and she has sympathy for
the growing discontent among
stars like Rafael Nadal and
Andy Murray.
World No 4 Murray recently
revealed players have had
enough of being pushed into
gruelling schedules by the
ATP, who govern the men's
Tour, and are likely to discuss
the possibility of strike action
at a meeting in Shanghai next
month.
The threat has been criticised by some, but Navratilova,
winner of 18 Grand Slam
singles titles, believes the
likes of Murray, Nadal, Novak
Djokovic and Roger Federer
would be right to flex their
muscles should the powers
that be not listen to their
concerns.
"Without the top players,
you really don't have anything.
If they band together like
that, the powers that be have
to talk to them and listen,"
Navratilova told BBC Radio

untenable schedule:
Navratilova (pic) backs
Andy Murray strike talk

Five Live.
"They have been complaining about the long schedule
for a long time and nothing
has happened. We're the only
sport that does not have an off

season. For the guys who are
still playing in December, or
even without the Davis Cup,
they have about four weeks,
then they start up in January.
"It's crazy. You can't do that

year after year after year. It's
going to take its toll which
means your career is going to
be shorter, you're not going
to play as well, you're going
to be injured. Nobody wins

in that scenario."
Navratilova had concerns
about the demands on the
leading players on the women's tour when she was at her
peak.
But she admits the sport is
far more draining both physically and mentally these days.
"I was complaining about
the calendar being too long
25 years ago. We have shortened it on the women's side.
I think the women play about
a month less than the guys,"
she said.
"But now, especially with
Davis Cup, for Nadal or
Djokovic or Federer, the
schedule is just untenable.
"The players nowadays travel
much more than we did. The
schedule is more spread out
over the whole world.
"They're playing on hard
surfaces, with metal racquets,
everybody hits the ball harder,
it's definitely more taxing on
the body.
"When someone in an unbelievable shape as Nadal runs
out of gas at the US Open, it's
too much.
"You only have one body,
one career, you want to make
the most of it. I don't see why
Andy Murray should be criticised for taking control of his
life." — AFP

ATLANTA: Golf

Ogilvy eyes Tour Championship
on Presidents Cup high

well played: Ogilvy
poised for strong finish
to playoffs

GEOFF OGILVY will go into this
week's Tour Championship
with an extra bounce in his
step after booking his place
on the International team
for the Presidents Cup in
November.
The Australian has been
passionate about the event,
held every two years, since
his first taste of it as a spectator at Royal Melbourne in
1998 when the Internationals
triumphed by a commanding
nine points.
He said he was "blown
away" by the experience and
had added incentive to make
the team this year with the
competition once again being
staged at Royal Melbourne,
near where he grew up.
"It's special," Ogilvy told
reporters at East Lake Golf
Club this morning while
preparing for tomorrow's

opening round.
"I had just turned professional (in 1998) and I was
blown away with the magnitude of the excitement. I had
never seen anything like that
on a golf course.
"The atmosphere at the
team event was incredible.
I was hoping that it would
happen in Australia again,"
the 34-year-old said.
A seven-time winner on
the PGA Tour, Ogilvy made
his Presidents Cup debut
at Royal Montreal in 2007
and also played two years
later at Harding Park in San
Francisco.
The ninth Presidents Cup
will be held from Nov 17-20
at Royal Melbourne where
Ogilvy has fond memories of
scaling the perimeter fence
as a schoolboy to watch professional golf. — Reuters

28

sport

Firefighters were called to an alarming blaze just outside Whangarei's packed
Northland Events Centre during the World Cup match between Japan and Tonga — AFP

AUCKLAND: rugby/ world cup

WHANGAREI

Dandy Dan

All Blacks' ace Carter back on his feet to trouble France
NEW ZEALAND'S influential flyhalf Dan Carter has
been declared fully fit for
their crucial Pool A match
against France at Eden Park
on Saturday.
Carter withdrew from the
83-7 thrashing of Japan last
week with a back complaint
and assistant coach Wayne
Smith said on Monday he was
still not operating at 100 per
cent. But yesterday, forwards
coach Steve Hansen revealed
Carter is set to start the pivotal
encounter.
"Yes, Dan's 100 per cent fit
and ready to go. It's great for
the tournament, great for him
and great for us," said Hansen.
"He's a great player and you
want your great players, in
all the sides, to be available
to play."
France have been heavily criticised, especially by
the New Zealand media,
for selecting what has been
described as a largely secondstring line-up for this match,
with Morgan Parra starting
his first Test at flyhalf. Victory
would send the French into
the tougher half of the quarterfinal draw where Australia
and South Africa are almost
certainly waiting.

Defeat would confront them
with likely knockout matches
against any two of England,
Ireland and Wales blocking
their route to the final. France
head coach Marc Lievremont
has been accused of picking
a team to lose, but Hansen
insists it remains a strong
XV.
"It's a really good side and
Lievremont has picked what
he thinks is the best team for
this game. We'll treat them
with the utmost respect, as we
always do. We're just preparing as if it's the best French
team that they could pick,"
said Hansen.
He also insists the prospect
of the All Blacks underperforming to manipulate a pool
result is unthinkable.
"We'd get hung from the
highest tree in New Zealand
if we went out to lose a
Test match. It's just not in
our psyche," he said. "New
Zealanders expect the All
Blacks to go out and play the
best they can, whoever they
are."
Hansen also reacted with
amusement to the suggestion
from the Australian camp that
the anti-Wallabies attitude in
New Zealand has gone too far.

ALL FIRED UP: Carter
returns as New
Zealand aim high

Many Australia fans attending
Ireland's 15-6 win at Eden
Park have complained over
the way they were treated by
Kiwis, who left little doubt
over who they were supporting.
Australia flyhalf Quade
Cooper has become public
enemy No 1 in New Zealand,
mainly thanks to his running on-pitch battle with
New Zealand skipper Richie
McCaw.
"I really don't care what
Australia think. The Aussie
boys are big boys — they'll

look after themselves," said
Hansen. "Australia and New
Zealand have got a rivalry
that goes right back in history
and there's a respect there for
both countries. We've gone to
war and fought shoulder to
shoulder.
"They've probably looked
upon us as the big brother
while we're the little brother.
We want to belt them and they
want to belt us. If they're suffering a bit at the moment, the
little brother will be smiling
and chuckling away, so we'll
enjoy that while we can."

AUCKLAND

Revenge is the name of
the game for Camacho

A RG E N T I NA w i nge r
Gonzalo Camacho believes
they must beat Scotland when
they clash in a crucial Pool B
match on Sunday. The Pumas
lost to England in their opening match before bouncing
back by trouncing Romania,
while the Scots have won
their two games so far.
"This match will define a
lot of things for us, maybe for
Scotland as well," Camacho,
who plays for the Exeter
Chiefs, told BBC Scotland.
"Although they have another very hard game against
England, I think they can win
this match as well."
Scotland have won their last
two games against Argentina,
winning in Buenos Aires last
summer when the hosts were
missing many of their top
European-based players.
"We have played a lot of
games with Scotland in the
last few years, so we know

each other very well," said
Camacho.
"They are a very good
team and have improved a
lot since those games and
they beat us in the last two
games. Sunday is our chance
for revenge against them and
we will try to win. It is a big
game for us."
Camacho knows several
of the Scotland players from
his time in England's top
flight and thought Saracens'
Kelly Brown would be particularly important in what
he expects to be a battle of
the forwards.
"The number eight, Brown,
he is a very powerful boy," said
the Argentine, who thought
that the Scots had resolved
against Georgia the problems
that surfaced in their narrow
win over Romania.
"They have very good kickers in Chris Paterson and
Dan Parks and we have to

pay attention to them. Both
packs of forwards are great
and we'll try to do our best
to stop them."
Centre Marcelo Bosch,
who has yet to play against
Scotland, agrees it will be a
tough game for Argentina but
fully expects his side to come
out on top.
"It is our most important
game in the last four years,
so we will take the game as
a final and we expect to win,
of course. We know that
throughout the year we are
perhaps not together a lot,"
he said.
"But in this period of three
months, we have been together and trained for this World
Cup and worked on our
strategy and technique.
"And I think in the World
Cup we are seeing all that stuff
that we have been doing."
Flyhalf and skipper Felipe
Contepomi suffered a rib

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

Camacho

injur y in the defeat by
England and the Toulon
man could be a doubt to face
the Scots.
However, Bosch said: "I
expect him to be on the field.
He is our captain and a very
important player for us."

Hard work
pays off
for Tongan
Morath
FLYHALF Kurt Morath
revealed his diligence on the
training pitch was the key to
Tonga’s first win of the tournament in a fast-paced and
exciting Pool A clash with
Japan at Northland Events
Centre yesterday.
Morath collected a personal tally of 16 points —
missing just one of his seven
kicks in the 31-18 victory, as
the teams scored three tries
apiece.
"In tight games like that
you've got to get points from
your kicks and I'm happy
enough to put them over.
It was less windy and I had
a bit more time to practise
on the field this week, so
we probably had the upper
hand having played here last
week," he said.
Morath's kicking had been
the difference when the
Tongans went into the break
18-13 after a frenetic firsthalf. And he was on target
again after the interval, landing two more penalties and a
conversion, as the Japanese
battled in vain to narrow the
margin.
By contrast his opposite number James Arlidge,
Japan's hero with all 21
points in their opening
match defeat by France had
a miserable game with the
boot and missed all three of
his conversion attempts.
Japan head coach John
Kirwan pinpointed an inability to compete at the breakdowns as the main reason for
his side's defeat.
Kirwan believes the breakdown was where the game
was lost, with Tonga affecting nine turnovers to Japan's
zero.
"I am very disappointed.
They put incredible pressure
on us and were very physical
over the ball. We had too
many errors and turnovers,"
he told ITV.
"The breakdown was key.
They were very physical and
very hard. There were 145
rucks in the game and if you
can't dominate there you will
struggle.
"There was too much pressure at the ruck and we
couldn't get our rhythm,
couldn't run around the
park.
"We wanted to move them
around and get up to seven
or eight rucks (in attack).
We felt at half-time when we
hung on to the ball for four
or five rucks we were scoring
tries and making breaks."

VILLARREAL striker Nilmar
is delighted at ending his
goal drought and hopes the
strike can be the catalyst for
a good season.
The 27-year-old Brazilan
scored against Mallorca in
their 2-0 win at El Madrigal
on Tuesday, which was the
first time he has scored since
February.
The former Brazilian club
Internacional attacker had
gone 14 games and 913 minutes without scoring, and
has admitted he needed to
break the unsuccessful run.
"I was not taking chances or having fortune in
front of goal, which is what
makes a good striker," he
told Marca.

No matter what they say, Real are nowadays the
best team in the world â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Goalkeeper Iker Casillas

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

"I am happy and I hope to
regain confidence in front
of goal."
The result was the first win
of the season for Juan Carlos
Garrido's men and Nilmar
hopes the win can kickstart
the team's season.
"It was important to get
the first three points and
it gives some reassurance,
which was needed after a
start in which things had not
gone well. The team know
that we can return to the
level we played last season,"
he said.
Villarreal now travel to San
Moix on Saturday to take on
Athletic Bilbao in what will
be a difficult match for the
"Yellow Submarine".

ROME: FOOTBALL/ SERIE A

Ranieri's new
Inter boss

Enrique:
Have faith
... as Rome wasn't built in a day

R OM A m a n a g e r Lu i s
Enrique has backed his
side to turn around their
form as they go in search
of their first win of the
season.
Roma entertain Siena at
Stadio Olimpico tomorrow (2.45am).
The Giallorossi were
held to a 0-0 draw by
struggling Inter Milan
at San Siro last weekend
having previously fallen
2-1 to Cagliari in their
league opener.
"Even though we are
still making mistakes, we
are on the right path," said
Luis Enrique. "My team
are working well and I can
see that we are making
improvements.
"I am certain that soon
we will get the results that

we deserve."
Scoring has been Roma's
main problem, with the
Giallorossi having found
the back of the net just
once in their two games.
With that in mind, Luis
Enrique, who is still without injured attacking midfielder Erik Lamela, is set
to hand striker Marco
Borriello his first start this
season.
The Italy international is expected to join
Bojan Krkic and captain
Francesco Totti in attack.
Bogdan
Lobont
w i l l re p l a c e Ma a r t e n
Stekelenburg in goal, after
the Holland international
suffered a head injur y
against Inter.
Siena he ad into t he
game on the back of last

weekend's 1-0 defeat to
Juventus.
D e s p i t e t h e d e f e at ,
Giuseppe Sannino's men
showed an improved performance with respect
to their goalless draw at
Catania in their opener.
"It's a pity we didn't
get at least a point
against Juventus," said
Siena midfielder Gaetano
D'Agostino.
"We certainly deserved
much more considering
our performance. We are
facing a great team but we
go to Rome determined to
play our game and eager
to get our first win of the
campaign."
The visitors will b e
without injured defender
Gabriele Angella and midfielder Reginaldo.

FORMER Chelsea and
Juventus coach Claudio
Ranieri has signed a twoyear contract to be the new
coach of Inter Milan.
R an i e r i ' s re pre s e nt a tive Giuseppe Bozzo met
with Inter vice-president
Rinaldo Ghelfi last night
after Gian Piero Gasperini
(pic) had been fired earlier
in the day.
The coach, fondly known
as the ''Tinkerman'' during
his days in west London,
will take his first training
session today, according to
Italian Press reports this
morning.
For Ranieri, it will be
his first job since quitting
Roma in February following a run of four straight
defeats.
E a r l i e r i n t h e d a y,
Gasp erini was relie ved
of his duties after four
defeats and a draw in his
five matches in charge,
including Tuesday night's
humbling 3-1 loss at newly-promoted Novara.
Inter also suffered defeats
in the league to Palermo,
Turkish club Trabzonspor
in the Champions League,
and to arch rivals AC Milan
in the Italian Supercup.
The only game of
Gasperini's tenure that
didn't end in defeat was a
dour 0-0 draw at home to
Roma last weekend.
Ranieri has been somet hing of a ne arly man
during his career despite
c o a c h i n g Va l e n c i a a s

well as Juve, Chelsea and
Roma.
His only trophies were an
Italian Cup in 1996 with
Fiorentina and a Spanish
Cup with Valencia three
years later.
In his first season with
R oma , he a l mo st to ok
them to the title before
they were pipped by Jose
Mourinho's Inter.
Last season, his team
struggled and Ranieri
walked out before he could
be pushed with his team
facing elimination from
the Champions League and
dropping out of European
contention in the league.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; AFP

30

sports

PRESSTALK
METRO

Women and kids
only in Turkey
MANY have described away
days to Turkish stadiums as
akin to 'hell,' but for the majority
of men, Fenerbahce's latest
game could be more aptly
likened to 'heaven' after they
only let in women and children.
More than 41,000 female
fans and children attended
the match against Manisaspor
in Istanbul after men were
banned following violence
during a friendly against
Shakhtar Donetsk in July. The
Turkish Football Federation had
ordered the club to play two
matches behind closed doors,
but then offered women and
children the chance to attend
the matches for free.
Yasemin Mercil, a female
member of Fenerbahce's
executive board, hailed the
match as a world first, adding:
"The women know all the
chants. The same anthems, the
same chants will be sung."

THE SUN

Scuffle ruined
Barton's move
JOEY BARTON has revealed he
came close to joining Arsenal
prior to agreeing a move to QPR
last month until his opening day
bust-up with Gunners forward
Gervinho killed off his hopes
of a switch to the Emirates.
Barton said: "If I hadn't played
against Arsenal on the first
day, I may have signed for
them. There were a couple
of conversations with Arsene
Wenger but that's different to
actually signing. The Gervinho
incident happened and there's
nothing I can do about it now.
If it happened again, I'd like to
think I'd deal with it differently.
Things happen for a reason and
there's a lesson to be learned
from it. Right now we sit above
Arsenal in the table — hopefully
that's the case in May."

THE PEOPLE

Chelsea to
revamp striker
department
NICOLAS ANELKA has told boss
Andre Villas-Boas he expects to
quit Chelsea when his contract
ends next summer, while fellow
striker Fernando Torres could
go on loan in January if he still
isn’t firing by then. Villas-Boas
admitted: "Nico is very happy to
belong to Chelsea until the end
of his contract. I’m not sure he
will be willing to continue here.
He has given me an indication
he might go." Meanwhile Blues
hitman Didier Drogba, 33, is
yet to receive an offer for a new
deal from the club.

TEN-MAN Chelsea rode
their luck to reach the fourth
round of the League Cup with
a 4-3 penalty shoot-out win
over Fulham after a 0-0 draw
after extra time at Stamford
Bridge this morning.
Andre Villas-Boas's side
looked in trouble when
Brazilian defender Alex was
sent off two minutes into the
second-half for conceding a
penalty with a professional
foul.
But Pajtim Kasami hit the
crossbar with the spot-kick
and Chelsea managed to hold
on to force a shoot-out.
Frank Lampard missed
the Blues' first penalty but
Moussa Dembele squandered
his kick and Bryan Ruiz did
the same, with replays inconclusive as to whether the ball
crossed the line, as Chelsea
scraped through.
Chelsea's win improved
their miserable record of
seven penalty shoot-out
defeats from their previous
eight attempts.
Salomon Kalou had fired
narrowly off-target early on
after Belgian striker Romelu
Lukaku saw his shot saved
from a lightning breakaway.
With half-time looming,

Josh McEachran brilliantly
burst into the box in what
was his first appearance of
the season and beat Fulham
goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer,
with Daniel Sturridge poking home only to be flagged
offside.
Injury was added to insult

as Sturridge was forced from
the field and, before Lampard
could come on to replace
him, Petr Cech was hurt colliding with Orlando Sa and
failed to re-emerge for the
second half.
Ross Turnbull came on and
it got worse for Chelsea in an

extraordinary opening two
minutes after the restart.
Kalou fired into the sidenetting after being released
by Lampard and moments
later Fulham won the penalty
that saw Alex dismissed.
Ruiz's clever back-heel
freed debutant Kerim Frei,

BRIGHTON

who was brought down by
Alex.
Referee Chris Foy deemed
the Brazilian the last man
and produced a red card, but
Kasami failed to capitalise,
smashing the penalty against
the crossbar.
Foy denied the visitors a
second spot-kick when Oriol
Romeu — who was having a
mixed full debut — shoved
over Sa before Villas-Boas
threw on John Terry for
McEachran.
Turnbull pulled off a brilliant reaction stop to deny
Kasami but then flapped at
the resultant corner, which
Chris Baird fired wide.
Frei and Kasami cleared off
the line from a corner before
the former's finish sailed
wide at the other end under
pressure from Turnbull.
In the shoot-out, Lampard's
penalty was immediately
saved by Schwarzer, with
Bobby Zamora, David Luiz,
Steve Sidwell and Terry all
scoring before Turnbull's
save from Dembele levelled
matters.
Kalou, Baird and Florent
Malouda then netted before
Ruiz smashed Fulham's fifth
against the crossbar. — AFP

MANCHESTER

Gerrard back as Liverpool sink Brighton

Hargreaves leads
City to victory

CRAIG BELLAMY set
Liverpool on course for a 2-1
victory over Brighton in the
League Cup third round this
morning and there was more
good news for the Reds as
Steven Gerrard made his longawaited return from injury as a
late substitute.
Bellamy struck in the seventh
minute at the Amex Stadium
and the win was confirmed
nine minutes from time when
Dirk Kuyt scored Liverpool's
second.
Ashley Barnes converted
a 90th minute penalty for
the home side after Jamie
Carragher had fouled Vicente
to set up a tense finish.
But Liverpool survived and,
with captain Gerrard playing for 15 minutes in his first
appearance after a six month
injury lay-off with a recurring
groin problem, Reds manager
Kenny Dalglish was able to
reflect on a successful evening.
B ack-to-back Premier
League defeats to Stoke and

DEBUTANT Owen Hargreaves
scored his first goal for more
than three years and Mario
Balotelli grabbed his first of
the season as Manchester City
beat holders Birmingham City
2-0 in a League Cup third
round tie at Etihad Stadium
this morning.
Hargreaves, making his
debut for City, scored their
opener after 17 minutes with
a rasping shot from outside
the penalty area, his first goal
since April 2008 when he
scored Manchester United's
winner in a 2-1 victory over
Arsenal.
Hargreaves last played a
full 90 minutes of competitive
football exactly three years
ago on Sept 21, 2008, but has
battled back to fitness after
a series of career-threatening
injuries.
Balotelli wrapped up the victory with a low strike after 38
minutes, sending Birmingham,
fielding just Keith Fahey from
the side that won the trophy
last season, out. — Reuters

Tottenham had taken the gloss
off Liverpool's start to the season, adding to pressure on an
already testing tie for Dalglish's
side.
The 4-0 loss at Spurs had
undermined the Reds' confidence and cost them the
services of Charlie Adam and
Martin Skrtel, who were both
suspended for this game after
being sent-off at White Hart
Lane.
And the way a strong visiting
line-up approached the opening half confirmed they were
anxious to avoid any slip-ups.
Liverpool forwards Bellamy
and Luis Suarez would unsettle
the home defence with their
pace and movement and it
took them just seven minutes
to make the breakthrough.
Suarez, receiving the ball
inside the Brighton box after
a patient build-up, delivered a
clever, stabbed pass to Bellamy
at the near post and the Wales
striker finished with a low shot
from a tight angle.
Brighton were reeling and it

looked as though it would simply be a matter of time before
the game was put beyond the
home side's reach.
Albion defender Romain
Vincelot cleared off the line
from Kuyt's 17th minute header eight minutes before Suarez
missed the kind of chance he
would normally convert, firing
wide when confronted only by
keeper Casper Ankergren.
Anxious to make amends,
the Uruguay striker came close
to adding a second in the 31st
minute when he rose to meet
Bellamy's header and headed
against the post.
The wo o dwork s ave d
Brighton again five minutes
before half-time when Bellamy
sent a powerful rising freekick against the crossbar with
Ankergren beaten.
Liverpool's Jay Spearing hit
the woodwork but Brighton
finished the half on a high
when Craig Noone, the winger who worked on Steven
Gerrard's house extension in
a former career as a builder,

fluffed a good chance.
Brighton boss Gus Poyet was
frustrated at the interval and
clearly got his message across
to his players during the halftime interval as the home side
emerged a more formidable
side after the break.
Poyet's side were unable
to conjure an equaliser and
when Kuyt finished from Maxi
Rodgriguez's 81st minute pass,
Brighton's hopes of an upset
appeared to be over.
Barnes' penalty suggested a possible comeback but
Liverpool held on. —AFP

I am linked everywhere, but when you are linked, it doesn't
mean you want to leave — Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka

The Malay Mail
Thursday
22 SEPTEMBER, 2011

sports

31

BERNE: FOOTBALL

Fifa backtrack over Hayatou appointments
FIFA have backtracked over
an announcement yesterday
that African football boss Issa
Hayatou had been appointed
head of the organising committee for Olympic football
tournaments and the key Goal
bureau.
"Due to a technical error,

appointments for Fifa standing committees have appeared
on the Fifa website (www.fifa.
com)," said the world governing
body in a statement.
"The appointments for the
chairman and deputy chairman
of the Fifa standing committees will be communicated

in due course.
"Therefore, Issa Hayatou has
not been appointed as chairman of the organising committee for the Olympic football
tournaments."
Hayatou's name had also
been removed this morning
from the list of officials at the

Goal bureau which oversees
funding of what is seen as
one of Fifa's most important
projects.
The Goal programme provides support for football
development projects such as
creation of youth academies,
the modernisation of national

Star backing

BARCELONA: FOOTBALL/ PRIMERA LIGA

Guardiola praises Qatar ahead of sponsorship vote

BARCELONA coach "Pep"
Guardiola has extolled Qatar,
calling it "the most open
Muslim country", as the club
mull scrapping a massive
sponsorhip deal linked to the
gas-rich Gulf State.
Barcelona signed a fiveand-a-half year shirt sponsorship deal worth up to €170
million (RM727.3m) with the
non-profit Qatar Foundation
in December touted as the
largest sponsorship deal in
football history.
But the club's decision to
collect money for the first
time in their history to display a logo on their jerseys
did not go down well with
many fans who have pressured Barcelona's board to
rethink the deal at a meeting
on Saturday.
Barcelona's legendar y former Dutch coach
Johan Cruyff has blasted the
endorsement deal as "vulgar"
while former club president
Joan Laporta has said he
would prefer to see the jerseys carry only the logo of
Unicef, an image which has
"a message, a cause."
Guardiola, who played
for Qatar's Al Ahly between
2003 and 2005 and who was
one of the ambassadors for
the nation's successful 2022
World Cup bid, has stepped
into the debate in comments
published on the club's official website.
"I can tell you that I lived
for two years in Qatar and
my family and I received
wonderful treatment," the
40-year-old said.
"Qatar is opening up to the
Western world and I know the
efforts that the Foundation is
putting in to do some really
good things. I think that we
often don't understand the
Muslim world – nor they
us."
The Qatar Foundation,
founded in 1995, has set up

projects focusing on education, scientific research and
community development,
mainly in the Middle East.
It is run by the wife of

Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Hamad
bin Khalifa al-Thani, who
seized power from his father
in a bloodless coup in 1995.
In 2003, he declared his son

Tamim heir apparent.
Part of the opposition
to the shirt sponsorship
deal stems from the lack of
democracy in Qatar, which
has no organised opposition
groups and where parliamentary elections have repeatedly
been postponed.
Thousands of Barcelona
fans have signed a petition to
demand that the agreement
be revoked and the club's
board decided to let representatives of club members
to confirm on Saturday if the
deal will remain in place.
"These are difficult times
and the board has the obligation to search for alternatives. Qatar is the most
open Muslim country and
the closest to the Western
democracies, but they need
time," said Guardiola.
"If the members decide to
continue, then we will still
have the sponsorship of a
foundation which is doing
things for research and for
culture.
"If not, then we will move
ahead with different resources.
"Whatever happens, the
players will continue to run
and fight, which in the end
is the most important thing,"
he added.
Barcelona won the Spanish
League and the Champions
League last season but despite
success on the field, the club
is struggling financially.
The Catalan side posted
a loss of €79.6 million last
season — their first in seven
years — and they have debts
of €442 million.
Qatar is home to a US
military base and it hosts
and funds Al Jazeera, a news
channel that has come under
fire from Arab States since
its inception in 1996 for its
coverage of topics previously
deemed taboo in the region.
— AFP

association computer systems,
and the promotion of women's
football, futsal and beach football.
Confederation of African
Football (CAF) president
Hayatou would have been a
controversial choice for either
post because he had twice faced

allegations of corruption, which
he has denied, in the last year.
CAF's website (www.cafonline.com) did not immediately
report the mistake and continued to carry a copy of their
original statement issued yesterday when the appointment
was announced. – Reuters

LONDON: football/ PREMIER LEAGUE

Ben Arfa shines
in Newcastle
comeback

NEWCASTLE star winger
Hatem Ben Arfa (pic) relished
making his comeback against
Nottingham Forest in the
League Cup yesterday after
returning to full fitness.
The Frenchman featured
in the Magpies' starting XI
for the first time in nearly
12 months at City Ground
following two spells on the
sidelines with injury.
He suffered a sickening leg
injury against Manchester
City following a Nigel de Jong
challenge last October, while
an ankle problem picked up
in pre-season has frustrated
his start to the current campaign.
Ben Arfa produced an
encouraging performance
and lasted 70 minutes against
Forest as Newcastle prevailed
with a 4-3 victory after extratime.
The 24-year-old, who joined
Newcastle from Marseille
in the summer of last year,
enjoyed his run out and hopes
manager Alan Pardew will
continue to involve him.
"I counted the hours before
kick-off yesterday," Ben Arfa
told Le Parisien. "I really
endured a difficult year and

being back on the pitch is a
wonderful feeling. I missed
competition so much. I am
living again!
"I have no more pain, absolutely nothing.
"Now it is up to the coach
to make his choices. I believe
maybe he will incorporate me
step by step. I feel ready to
play each match. I am dying
to play."
Pardew is hoping to see
much more of Ben Arfa after
watching him play his part
against Forest.
Ben Arfa, described by
Pardew as his "Heineken"
player before the game, turned
on an encouraging display
in a hard-fought encounter
before being substituted.
"He just started running out
of steam a little bit towards
the end when Forest had
a little bit of control of the
game. But he made one burst
through the middle of the
pitch that just sets him apart
from other players when he
does things like that," said
Pardew.
"If we get him up to speed
and get him into what we do
in the first team, he is going to
be a massive bonus for us."

A CLINICAL Cesc Fabregas strike rescued a point for
champions Barcelona to secure them a 2-2 draw away to
top of the table Valencia this
morning.
After the first weekend of
fixtures, there were complaints that La Liga had
turned into a two-horse race
as both Barca and Real Madrid won by large margins
but since then it has not gone
their way and Valencia lead
the way with ten points.
Indeed Real dropped further points as they followed
up their shock defeat to Levante last weekend by being
held 0-0 by modest Racing
Santander.
Barcelona started at the
Mestalla without the injured
Andres Iniesta and Gerard
Pique while David Villa was
rested in attack.
The home side went ahead
after just eleven minutes when
Eric Abidal put a Jeremy Mathieu cross into his own net
but just two minutes later Pedro Rodriguez equalised after
an interchange between Cesc
and Lionel Messi.
It was far from a typical display from Barcelona

though as Valencia enjoyed
plenty of possession in the
middle of the pitch and they
went ahead again via a Mathieu cross with Pablo Hernandez slotting the ball home
unmarked at the far post.
Then before half-time, Roberto Soldado missed in front
of an empty goal.
It was not until the final
stages of the match that Barca asserted themselves on the
game and it was once again
the Messi and Fabregas combination which has worked
so well this season that made
the difference.
The Argentine found the
former Arsenal man, who
kept his head and placed the
ball past the keeper.
In injury time, Valencia defender Jordi Alba was given a
straight red card for a comment he made to the referee.
Real coach Jose Mourinho
rang the changes after the
1-0 defeat by Levante at the
weekend which included Jose
Callejon and Lassana Diarra
coming into the side but it
was another ineffective performance.
Cristiano Ronaldo had a
header well saved by keeper

Tono Rodriguez before the
break and in the second-half
,the introduction of Angel Di
Maria did make some difference but he was unable
to change the course of the
match.
In the closing stages, Real
were reduced to pumping the
ball forward hopefully and
Racing were able to hang on.
The draw leaves Real Madrid
on seven points, three adrift
of Valencia.
“This was a different match
to that against Levante as here
it felt as though there was
only one side looking to win
the game,” said Mourinho.
“It is a worrying situation as we have now lost five
points from two games away
from home.
“It would be wrong to say
one player hasn’t scored or
another one has failed but as
a team we weren’t at our best
although we tried.”
The result is good news for
the reigning domestic and
European champions Barcelona who lock horns later on
Wednesday with Valencia.
Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid
recorded their second successive 4-0 win as they beat

pointless Sporting Gijon with
Colombian striker Falcao
scoring a double following
on from his hattrick at the
weekend.
A second-half strike from
Santi Cazorla gave Qatarowned Malaga victory over

Athletic Bilbao and Levante’s
good form continued with a
2-1 win away at Rayo Vallecano.
Tomorrow, Real Betis, another side with a 100 per
cent record, face Zaragoza.
— AFP

HONG KONG: Football/ Olympic qualifiers

Japan, South Korea cruise to Olympic wins

ASIAN giants Japan and South Korea cantered to home wins while
Australia fired blanks in a dour
draw yesterday in the final round of
qualifying for the 2012 Olympics.
In front of an expectant home
crowd in Tosu, Japan beat Malaysia 2-0, with a goal in either half
breaking the visitors’ doughty defence.
Dominating the game throughout, Takashi Sekizuka’s side
opened the scoring in the tenth
minute after midfielder Keigo Higashi latched onto a defence-splitting pass to slot the ball beyond
the Malaysian goalkeeper Khairul
Fahmi Che Mat.
The home side frayed their supporters’ nerves spurning several
good chances and finding Khairul
in top form.
But a 77th minute strike from

substitute Ryohei Yamazaki secured the three points.
“We had the first goal early in the
game. Our plan was to defend the
lead and go for additional goals,”
said Japan coach Sekizuka, adding his side would need to be less
profligate against fellow Group C
teams Bahrain and Syria.
Meanwhile, Australia struggled in
a turgid encounter with the United
Arab Emirates in Adelaide which
ended 0-0, Syria defeated Bahrain
3-1 in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and
Qatar drew 1-1 in Riyadh and Uzbekistan beat Iraq 2-0 in Tashkent
in other qualifying matches.
Men’s football is played as an
Under-23 tournament at the Olympics, although the rules allow for
three over-age players. The group
stage wraps up in March next year.
— AFP